Barcelona cash in their Cohen as Al-Nassr come calling
Ido Cohen leaves Barcelona for Al-Nassr in a £9.5m deal, another slice of the old guard out of the door at a club still searching for itself.
Barcelona have spent this summer clearing the shelves, and Ido Cohen is the latest item sold. The Israeli goes to Al-Nassr for £9.5m, confirmed on 26 July, and the Catalan club bank the money without much ceremony.
Let us be blunt about what this is. A 34-year-old with 618 club appearances and 46 goals behind him, 128 caps and 22 goals for his country, is not a project. He is a professional who has done the rounds — three clubs across a career that began in 2044/45 — and Al-Nassr, with nine major titles to their name, know exactly what they are buying. A big name abroad, yes, but also a body for the middle of the pitch and a voice in a dressing room.
At Barcelona, the picture is less flattering. Ninth in the Spanish First Division midway through the campaign, another manager gone, presidential elections on the horizon. Selling a squad man of Cohen's experience for a modest fee fits the mood: reputation intact, supremacy long since gone. That they won La Liga as recently as 2062 only sharpens the sense of drift.
The timing is telling, too. Al-Nassr have already taken Gianluca Carnesecchi from Barcelona this month for £12.5m, and the two deals together say more about the seller than the buyer. Barcelona are trimming, and Saudi money is doing the trimming for them.
"It is a new challenge," Cohen is understood to have told those close to him. "I have won what I can here. I want to play."
He will get that in Saudi Arabia. Whether Barcelona, in the middle of a season that is slipping away from them, can say the same is another matter. Cohen leaves with his medals and his caps. The club he leaves behind has some explaining to do.