Barça already considered, last summer, the sale of one of the most important players in the squad to be able to go to the market with a little more guarantees. In this sense, from the club it was identified that the two losses that could be allowed were those of Marc-André Ter Stegen and Frenkie de Jong. Both have a large European market and would have found clubs willing to pay a significant sum of money for them, but Xavi Hernandez refused to let the goalkeeper leave, although he did agree to put the Dutchman on the market
With the expected departures, it won’t be enough for Barça either
And so it was. Barça put him in the window and Manchester United quickly became interested. Finally, being in all his right , De Jong refused to leave and finally Barça had to activate the famous economic levers to be able to strengthen themselves. But, the resource of these levers has already been used, and taking into account the results, especially in the Champions League, there is still a lot of work to be done. And this work, in part, is also signings. The problem remains the same, the excessive salary mass of the workforce. The limit went up thanks to the levers, but Javier Tebas, president of La Liga, already warned that it had to be reduced by 200 million , to a figure close to 400
For this, Barça can get rid, either in January or in the summer, of some high contracts such as those of Gerard Piqué, Sergio Busquets or Jordi Alba, but it probably won’t be enough either. Not even adding Memphis Depay , whose contract expires on June 30 but could even be transferred to Juventus in January , would the numbers come out. For this to happen, Barça will have to reactivate the possibility of letting one of the most important players leave, according to the Culémania portal
Always taking into account the aforementioned information, the names with the most ballots are the same. De Jong, despite having performed well, even in the position of defensive midfielder, raises doubts as a possible replacement for Busquets in the medium or long term. For this position, the idea is to sign someone who can arrive as a free agent , either N’Golo Kanté, Jorginho, Tielemans or a similar profile, or someone with projection for whom a transfer should be paid, as Rúben would be Snow, for example
There are still many unknowns about the way in which Barça will face the next markets. In January, if they make any signings, they will have to pay a transfer fee, unless they are players who come from leagues like MLS, which is ending now. But also in January, you can start negotiating freely with those who, come July, will be free agents. In the departures section, there are not many untouchables, as happened a year before
