PETE JENSON: Barcelona’s busiest summer in years isn’t over yet after drab opening day 0-0 draw
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PETE JENSON: Barcelona’s busiest summer in years has seen them spend over £125m and they AREN’T done yet… Xavi wants another three signings and is convinced Bernardo Silva would make them title favourites – but it’s going to go right to the wire
- Barcelona intend to continue adding to their recent arrivals this transfer window
- Barca are targeting Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva to transform their chances
- Chelsea’s Marcos Alonso is set to sign to strengthen Xavi’s left-back options
- The Catalan giants are keen to offload Frenkie de Jong to balance their books
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It isn’t over yet. Barcelona’s busiest summer in years has seen five players come in at the cost of over £126million (€150m) but Xavi wants three more and for that to happen a minimum of three have to leave. The clock is ticking.
The question being asked on Monday morning by some Barcelona supporters was: just how many players do we need to sign before we can beat Rayo Vallecano, a team that won only three times away last season?
Xavi is convinced that Bernardo Silva will transform his team from contenders to favourites and after watching Saturday’s league opener he believes more strongly than ever that the side must sign a new right back.
Barcelona boss Xavi (centre) wants three more signings before the end of the transfer window
Xavi is convinced that Bernardo Silva will transform his team from contenders to favourites
He left Sergino Dest out of his squad and wants him sold to pay for a new arrival. Centre back Ronald Araujo played there against Rayo but it didn’t work.
Marcos Alonso will give him options on the other side of the pitch and that signing, like the registration of Jules Kounde, needs to be pushed over the line before the end of August.
So who has to leave? Frenkie de Jong’s departure would solve all the club’s problems in an instant.
In the figures that Barcelona need to give to La Liga so their maximum squad spend can be calculated, they are obliged to attribute £34m (€40m) in costs to De Jong because of payments due on his signing plus wages plus deferred salary. Barcelona would loosen their financial corset considerably if he goes but he still doesn’t want to.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta (left) hasn’t ruled out making further signings this summer
Xavi wants Sergino Dest (left) sold while Marcos Alonso (right) will provide option on the left
If he does move Bernardo Silva will join Barcelona. His goodbye to Manchester City fans at the weekend was being viewed in Spain as another clear indication of that, but if De Jong stands his ground Barça can’t make it happen.
Dest being left out of the squad when Barcelona’s options at right back without him are somewhere between poor and non-existent was a clear message that it’s now his turn to be pushed out.
But Dest, who has a contract until 2025, will only leave if a big club comes in for him. And at this stage of his development with Barça barely having used him since Xavi took over, it seems unlikely that a club of the size he wants will take him.
Barcelona have their list of replacements primed. Former Barcelona youth team full-back Hector Bellerin could be available as a free-agent and he showed last season at Betis that he could do the job for Barcelona.
Xavi also likes Thomas Meunier but the Dortmund right back would be expensive. Villarreal’s former Spurs defender Juan Foyth is another contender and Villarreal would be open to selling.
Hector Bellerin impressed on loan at Real Betis last season and could be available for free
Defender Jules Kounde, pictured in a pre-season match, still hasn’t been registered for LaLiga
The two other players left out of Xavi’s first squad were Martin Braithwaite and Samuel Umtiti and both are surplus but the club are finding it impossible to move them on.
They are prepared to let Braithwaite leave on a free if he accepts their financial package for paying off his contract which runs to 2024. As of yet he has not been convinced by their terms.
In attack Xavi wants Braithwaite and one more gone. His preference is that Memphis Depay is the other forward who leaves and Juventus want to sign him. But if Chelsea make a sizeable bid for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang then it will be the former Arsenal player who leaves and Memphis could stay as Barça’s sixth forward.
Part of Braithwaite’s reluctance to leave is the possibility that the club find themselves in a position where they could sell both Memphis and Aubameyang and he suddenly becomes the sixth striker. It seems far-fetched but only 12 months ago he scored a brace in Barça’s first game of the season.
Barca failed to impress in a limp 0-0 draw with Rayo Vallecano in their opening LaLiga game
Frenkie de Jong did play in Barcelona’s LaLiga opener but the club want him off their books
Barcelona still have economic levers left to pull with the option of selling 49 per cent of their merchandising arm BLM but they want to leave it as an alternative for next year.
That means that aside from selling players the attention turns to wages. It’s unclear how far down the line Gerard Pique’s pay cut agreement is with conflicting messages from the club suggesting it is either done and has been passed to La Liga, or that it is still being negotiated. A similar process is underway with Sergio Busquets but seems even more stalled.
The plate spinning is going to continue until 00.01am on September the first. If Barcelona reach the end of the month with Alonso, Silva and a new right back, then Xavi will be happy, almost regardless of whatever it takes to make it happen.
They are prepared to let Martin Braithwaite leave on a free if he accepts their pay-off package
