At least two more-or-less credible sources have confirmed Barcelona's interest in Andrea Pirlo. According to the latest reports, the club have even contacted him already.
Let's take a look at the possible tactical ideas of Joan Laporta's 'favourite' candidate to replace Ronald Koeman.
Firstly, let's keep in mind that Pirlo's most frequently used system of play was 4-4-2 double 6, or a double-pivot system – something Koeman was initially expected to come up with.
As you see, this is a very attack-minded option but perhaps, Pirlo would make some urgent changes to the midfield: Nico Gonzalez could replace Sergio Busquets as it needs a defensively solid player while Frenkie de Jong would be busy playmaking.
In the defence, Pirlo would need an experienced player like Giorgio Chiellini and a star youngster like Matthijs de Ligt – the Pique-Araujo pairing seems to be obvious.
At Juventus, Pirlo had a front four of Dejan Kulusevski, Alvaro Morata, Cristiano Ronaldo and Federico Chiesa – of course, he would like to have some world-class attackers upfront at Barca as well.
Pirlo's football is about keeping possession and dominating the game, usually creating chances through passing, so we should definitely expect fewer counterattacks and crosses as compared to what we see under Koeman these days.
