Barcelona continue to prioritize arrivals as they begin to sort out their departures at last. The French duo of Clement Lenglet and Ousmane Dembele are both expected to leave the club, with the latter’s departure possibly even getting wrapped up this week.
The unexpected nature of Dembele’s departure, however, alters the original plans for Barcelona in terms of recruiting new players and has thus created consequences that the Catalans were not prepared for earlier.
While the need for an offensive player is now added to the pre-existing priorities at right-back and recruiting an offensive interior midfielder, it is believed that the inclusion of a new forward is still the least of the three worries in terms of positions to reinforce.
The possible arrival of Vitor Roque this summer continues to be assessed and in the scenario that it does end up becoming a reality, that would take off a significant chunk of the burden related to recruiting a new forward.
On the other hand, in terms of a new interior, Spanish outlet SPORT claims that Bernardo Silva still remains a massive priority for Barcelona and Xavi on a sporting level. However, the economic reality of Barcelona makes the signing of the Portuguese a very difficult operation to execute.
Consequently, as per the report, Barcelona have kept their options open in terms of an alternative. This particular alternative is none other than Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Giovani Lo Celso, who Barcelona have kept an eye on for quite some time.
The attraction towards the Argentine mainly comes from the perspective of Xavi Hernandez who believes it to be a great market opportunity as the future of the Argentine is still up in the air following pre-season, despite a relatively good showing from the 27-year-old.
On the contrary, there is not much consensus on the signing of Lo Celso from the sporting sector led by soon-to-be Sporting Director Deco, who considers other alternatives with more regard.
It will indeed be fascinating to see how the recruitment of a new interior midfielder advances given the differing perspectives within the FC Barcelona camp. For now, the Catalans continue to wrap up ongoing operations to begin finalizing their team prior to the start of the official season.