Given the current financial situation at FC Barcelona and their urgent necessity to generate funds and open up space within their various allocated budgets in order to facilitate new arrivals, the team has thus far had little to no luck in offloading unwanted stars.
Yet, despite the rather popular notion that the Catalan club simply does not possess the kind of talent that is wanted within today’s market, it is rather the complete opposite and it just so is the case that the players of Barcelona that most European sides would fight over, are the same players the Catalan club considers to be untouchable.
This was given further evidence by Barcelona president Joan Laporta himself in an interview with Esport 3, as highlighted by Mundo Deportivo, where the Barcelona head mentions a few players by name who have attracted significant offers in the past that may have potentially brought in sizeable funds in exchange.
Speaking in the interview regarding such offers, the first name on the lips of the Barcelona president was Dutch midfielder Frankie De Jong’s, for whom the president states Barcelona received “an offer for €100 million” last year, but added that the club was wise not to accept and “did well not to accept it”.
Alongside the 26-year-old midfielder, Laporta also mentions other Barcelona stars such as 18-year-old Spanish midfielder Pedri and 20-year-old winger Ansu Fati. He also mentioned defensive duo Ronald Araujo (24 years) and Andreas Christensen (27 years) as players who have attracted rather big offers.
Despite this reported interest in these select few Barcelona players by the European elites, the Catalans remain clear in their priority to retain certain players and offload only those that are no longer a priority for the club and no longer in the plans of Xavi Hernandez for the upcoming season.