FC Barcelona have a clear idea of which players they want to incorporate in this summer transfer window, with Nico Williams and Dani Olmo being their preferred targets.
However, to afford them, the Catalans need a significant cash injection and a significant lowering of their wage bill to register any newly signed player with La Liga.
Barcelona understand that they would have to complete several sales to obtain this cash injection and lower the wage bill. However, none of the players they had marked as for sale, i.e., Raphinha, Ronald Araujo, Ansu Fati, and Frenkie de Jong, seem to be moving away this summer.
Three of them are currently injured, thus closing the door on any potential move, while Raphinha is also not too keen on leaving Barcelona.
In such a situation, the Catalans are forced to look at other players who can be sold, and according to SPORT, one of the most suitable names that they have identified for this purpose is Ilkay Gundogan.
Barcelona believe the German meets all the criteria that they are looking for a player to be sold, and a meeting between Hansi Flick and the midfielder is expected to take place today on Sunday as Gundogan joins the squad in the USA.
The German international has already received some offers from the Middle East. One of these offers was from Qatar, with Al-Sadd trying to incorporate the midfielder. The second offer came from Saudi Arabia, with Al-Ittihad being one of the options for him before he joined Barcelona last year.
The fact that Gundogan had arrived as a free agent and commands significant wages are two factors that make Barcelona think about his sale. However, he was one of the best players in the Catalan team last season, and he himself is not too keen to move on from the club this summer.
In fact, Gundogan is fully committed to Flick’s project and has a good relationship with the new Barcelona coach. If nothing unusual happens in the USA tour, everything indicates that he will remain a part of Flick’s squad for the next season.