Having sorted most out of their departures in the transfer window, FC Barcelona are using these last few days to look at potential targets they could bring in this summer. The injury to Marc Bernal has altered the club’s plans as well.
The 17-year-old tore the ACL on his left knee against Rayo Vallecano last night and is set to miss the entire season. This left Barcelona without a positional pivot in the squad and they have been forced to look in the market.
The Catalan club is now set to make a move to bring Liverpool midfielder Stefan Bajcetic on loan. Elsewhere, they also continue to look at center-back options. We had covered a story earlier today revealing that Barcelona had made a €20m bid for Jonathan Tah.
Now, Bayer Leverkusen director Rofles has played down all transfer talks surrounding Barcelona as quoted by reliable Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano. Here is what the club executive had to say:
“I’m expecting Jonathan Tah to stay. I had no call with Bayern or Barça recently. There are no news at all regarding a deal, so I expect him to stay”
It comes as no surprise to see Rofles say this. Often, when transfer negotiations are going on for a player, club executives deny such claims categorically until the deal reaches the final stages. Thus, what Bayer’s director has said must be taken with a pinch of salt.
With Andreas Christensen and Ronald Araujo out with long-term injuries and Eric Garcia’s recovery tenure unknown, Barcelona find themselves in a catch-22 situation. They recently sold Mikayil Faye to Rennes and now have just Inigo Martinez and Pau Cubarsi to depend on.
Jules Kounde is now pretty much Barcelona’s first-choice right-back meaning the Frenchman cannot come into this conversation. Thus, the club might be forced to look into the market for reinforcement.
Alternatively, Barcelona could choose to place trust in La Masia center-back Sergi Dominguez. He spent the entire pre-season with Hansi Flick’s team and has also been a part of the first three matchday squads.
Spending €20m on Tah right now might not be the play that Barcelona must make. The next few hours could be crucial in determining how this saga plays out.
