FC Barcelona have come to the realization that with the ongoing departures from the club taking place, the Catalan club must reinforce and reinvest in their own right to keep the side competitive for the upcoming season.
Following the departure of Xavi’s trusted French winger Ousmane Dembele, Barcelona have now turned their attention towards reinforcing their right-back position.
As it stands, the Catalan club has primarily shortlisted four candidates to take over the right-back position, namely Joao Cancelo, Ivan Fresneda, Juan Foyth, and Arnau Martinez as per reports by Mundo Deportivo.
In the case of Arnau Martinez, the report indicates that Barcelona have an internal consensus from a sporting perspective between the higher-ups and Barca coach Xavi Hernandez for his signing.
On the contrary, however, the player’s current club Girona does not have any intention to willingly sell their right-back and do not wish to negotiate any potential transfer fee for his departure.
Instead, they reportedly continue to refer to his €20 million release clause, which is the primary contention Barcelona have given that they must manage their finances extremely carefully due to simultaneously pursuing other targets in the market as well.
A recent report suggested that La Liga side Atletico Madrid also made advances for the player’s recruitment with an initial offer of €12 million that reached as far as €18 million as Atletico continued to persist.
However, all these approaches were rejected and Girona continued to state that the €20 million release clause is the only amount that would see their 20-year-old young star part ways with the Catalan club.
Furthermore, the departure of Oriol Romeu has also taken its sporting toll on Girona as it is and they are not exactly keen on losing yet another important piece of their squad within the very same summer.
Barcelona will continue to probe and inquire regarding the availability and feasibility of acquiring the 20-year-old, but the Catalan club will also simultaneously keep their options open in regards to other shortlisted candidates.
