FC Barcelona are yet to sign a right-back who fulfills Xavi’s criteria with the first match of the La Liga 2023-24 campaign scheduled for this Sunday.
This area has been one of the main weaknesses in Xavi’s squad, and the club is looking to eliminate this weakness in the remaining days of the transfer window.
The Catalan club has been associated with a number of players for this position during this summer but has yet to conclusively decide on a player.
Xavi would have preferred Joao Cancelo from Manchester City to be his starting right-back in the upcoming season, but the fact that even his loan was going to cost Barcelona a lot of money, makes him out of the reach of the club for now.
As a result, Barcelona will have to look at other options in the market. One such option that has particularly been linked with the Catalan club in the last few weeks is Ivan Fresneda from Real Valladolid. The last season was Fresneda’s first in La Liga, with him having developed through the ranks at Valladolid, but he was impressive throughout the season.
Barcelona, and their Sporting Director, Deco, both like Fresneda, for two reasons. First, he will be cheaper than most other options the club is looking at. And secondly, he still has room for further growth and development, and investing in him would be good business for the club as his value is expected to rise further in the future.
Another experienced full-back that Barcelona were considering for this position was Pablo Maffeo from Mallorca. However, SPORT reports that Deco would prioritize the signing of Fresneda over that of Maffeo. Still, the club would make a final decision on their priority for the right-back position by next week.
Barcelona would have to act swiftly for this operation, as there are only a few days left in the summer transfer window, and previous reports indicated that Fresneda has offers from other sides as well, including from the Premier League.
