Every summer window brings about an opportunity for FC Barcelona to look and analyze themself. The Catalan club often uses these opportunities to dispose of players and recruit ones that seem more viable. However, due to their financial limitations now, Barcelona have to progress more carefully than ever before.
Moreover, beyond just being careful, Barcelona will also need to make tough calls. The Catalan giants are in a position where they need to generate important income, and one of the key ways to do this is to let go of some important players.
Selling off players who do not generate a lot of interest or attention would not be viable this time around. Given the need for vast income in their coffers, Barça has to sell crucial stars. As highlighted by SPORT, there are essentially two primary names Barcelona are willing to part ways with.
One of the two is that of Jules Kounde, a French defender formerly from Sevilla. Despite being one of the team’s most crucial players since he arrived in the summer of 2022, Kounde is a player that Barcelona believe still has a big market.
Teams like Manchester United and Chelsea, along with other interested suitors, would be willing to engage for the Frenchman. Moreover, interest from the Premier League often brings with it great financial promise, so Barcelona could look to make use of it.
Furthermore, given the eruption of gems like Pau Cubarsi and the reliability of the other defensive sentinels in the team, Barcelona have the central defender positions on lockdown. With more names continuously being linked as well, Kounde could be a player that Barça do not hurt much from parting ways with.
The other name specified by SPORT is that of Brazilian winger Raphinha. Aged 27, the former Leeds United winger has not exactly delivered what Barcelona had expected of him when they signed him in the same summer window as they had signed Jules Kounde.
While the Frenchman at least displayed great quality on a consistent basis, Raphinha did not. Even now, the Brazilian winger continues to be outshined by a 16-year-old Lamine Yamal, who has already established himself as a player with the quality of a starter and with a future much more promising than the one Barça could have with Raphinha.
Teams from both the Middle East as well as England continue to have their eyes on the Brazilian, however. His time in Leeds seems to have left a good impression of him in the Premier League, and the teams there could be willing to offer good money for his services.
