The next player to be shown the exit door was Matheus Fernandes. In essence, the Brazilian was quite literally kicked out. The club terminated his contract to free up space for more useful players. A friendly reminder that Barça paid 7 million to bring him in just to forcefully release him a season later.
Paying that much money for a player that was never needed is typical Bartomeu business. Fernandes never was good enough or suitable for Barça. The deal itself looks totally unrelated to the sporting aspect. Matheus was victimised for the profit of the previous board.
Truth be told, it’s impossible to judge Matheus Fernandes on any base. Which is why I do personally feel bad for him. 17 minutes is all the game time that he played in the entirety of the 20/21 season. And that was back in November. The rest of the season was either spent on the bench or out of the squad as a whole. You’d be forgiven for forgetting about his existence, really.
In an interview with Mundo Deportivo, Matheus was quite critical of Ronald Koeman’s absence of interest in him: “In training I was on the wings, in defense, out of my natural position and there were days when I didn’t even train, I just warmed up and finished but I wasn’t involved with the whole group.” If that’s true, which I’m not entirely inclined to believe, then the whole case gets even more depressing.
By signing Matheus Fernandes, Josep Bartomeu not only wasted the player’s talent, but also some money that would have come in handy in our current financial state. As brief and uneventful as his stint at the club was, I still wish Matheus the very best in his career. Mucha suerte, @matheusfernandes !
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