Neymar departure gives Barca’s rivals hope

– La Liga’s reputation as the epicentre of world football talent has been bruised by the world-record sale of Neymar to Paris St Germain and how Barcelona react to the departure of one of their leading players will define the new season in Spain.

Barca outscored Real Madrid last season with their ferocious attacking trident of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar but still surrendered the title to Zinedine Zidane’s side.

Purists at Barcelona hope the Brazilian’s departure will lead to new coach Ernesto Valverde (right) building a more balanced side and reverting to the possession-based style of play perfected under former coach Pep Guardiola to try and wrestle the title back from Madrid.

The champions looked at their most powerful last campaign playing a four-man midfield led by playmaker Isco rather than with their usual three-pronged attack, which has left question marks about the future of Gareth Bale.

The range of talent in Real’s squad explains why their recent transfer activities have been geared towards building for the future rather than the immediate present, bringing in 19-year-old fullback Theo Hernandez from Atletico Madrid and Spain under-21 midfielder Dani Ceballos.

Barca have added more pace to their side with the return of winger Gerard Deulofeu after stints in England and Italy although the Spaniard cannot be expected to be a replacement for Neymar.

Valverde has strengthened in the one key area they were lacking last term by recruiting Portugal rightback Nelson Semedo, although he still faces a huge task in hunting down Zidane’s all-conquering side who show no sign of letting up.

The title race is set to be even more of a two-horse race than in previous seasons as third force Atletico Madrid have been unable to strengthen due to a ban on registering new players until January, while Diego Simeone’s side may also take time to bed into their new Wanda Metropolitano stadium.

Competing with Atletico for third will be Sevilla, who spent much of the last campaign competing for top spot until dropping out of the title race and finishing fourth and have had a summer of change, bringing in former Celta coach Eduardo Berizzo to replace Jorge Sampaoli. –