Is Barca doubting Wijnaldum after a woeful display against Real?

Georginio Wijnaldum to Barcelona is almost a sure thing. The Dutch international will leave Liverpool at the end of the season as a free agent, and Ronald Koeman will welcome him to Kamp Nou with open arms. The former Holland national team coach thinks highly of his fellow countryman (and he is coming without a transfer fee) and is sure that the steady midfielder will improove Barcelona squad.

And on Tuesday, Wijnaldum had a final exam before coming to La Liga. And how does he fared against his future rivals? Let’ just look at this video first:

Naturally, the Spanish and England press were all over this, as well as Liverpool fans, who thought that being The Reds captain means to fight for the club, and not stand still while the opponent is scoring.

„I have defended him a lot and still want him to sign the contract, but if he has no intentions, he can stop playing for now. Don't want players who don't put in the effort. And Gini doesn't have much in his locker apart from the effort“ was one of the social media comments, with all others saying the same thing, pretty much the same.

Vinicius ran over Liverpool, Real scored thee times against the Reds

Barcelona fans (and players) were also watching the same match and who knows what they were wondering. A player who is coming to the club, but just stands there while Modric and Vinicius tear apart Liverpool defense is maybe not the right answser. Off course, Wijnaldum is still a quality player, and one bad night won’t change that (he wasn’t even the worst player on the pitch), but is he better than the other players? Is he an upgrade? Maybe he is brought to replace Sergio Busquets, who is already 33 years old, but the Dutchman himself will be 31 in June, so where is the upgrade?

Frenkie de Jong or Pedri will certainly play before Wijnaldum, so he is risking to find himself on the bench, as Miralem Pjanic already find out. And since he is coming as a free agent, his salary will surely be a hefty one, so we are looking at a potential 31-years old backup on a big wage. Or, he can make a real effort for the remainder of the season in Liverpool and become the rotation player at Kamp Nou.