There is no doubt that the absence of a competent midfield pivot has cost FC Barcelona a lot this season. The Catalans themselves recognize this weakness, and were working in January to strengthen this area.
As already reported here, Barcelona had made approaches for the Almeria midfielder, Dion Lopy. The Catalans were very serious about the Senegalese player, but the move did not ultimately materialize.
According to Mundo Deportivo, there were two main reasons why Barcelona stopped in their tracks in the pursuit of Lopy.
Firstly, the technical department at the club was not entirely satisfied with the player. Barcelona officials had contacted different clubs with whom Lopy has been associated in the past, and the reports they received were not fully satisfactory.
Thus, the Catalans recognized Lopy as a good player but were not sure that he was a player who could play for them, particularly in a position that needed significant strengthening. Thus, his case was forwarded to the sporting department without too much emphasis.
Secondly, the sporting department itself ruled the signing out for economic reasons. Lopy has been performing at a very high level this season, and has generated interest from teams in and outside of Spain.
The Bundesliga side, Eintracht Frankfurt, had already offered as much as €15 million for him, but Almeria had rejected their offer. Thus, Barcelona understood that they would have to better this offer in order to convince Almeria for a sale.
Paying such a high amount of money in their already strained financial conditions was too much of a risk for the club, and thus the move fell through without success.
However, his file has not been discarded by the club, and he remains in Barcelona’s sights for the summer window, but Deco has some other interesting players in sight as well.