Afriupdate.com preview Barcelona’s potential outings in the winter transfer market amid ongoing interest in the Lyon forward and the Man City defender.
Barcelona are believed to have made Lyon forward Memphis Depay their ‘priority‘ target for the January transfer window after Ansu Fati‘s knee injury that is set to keep him on the sidelines until March.
As the Catalans still need to raise funds first to land the Dutchman and remain linked with Man City centre-back Eric Garcia, Tribuna.com list the four likeliest candidates to leave Camp Nou in less than two months.
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Samuel Umtiti
Even though Ronald Koeman recently claimed that if the Frenchman is ready to play, he’ll ‘count on him‘, that doesn’t appear to be the case,
Umtiti had spent vast parts of the two previous seasons in the treatment room and is yet to make a single appearance this term due to his neverending injury woes.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if the Catalans release the centre-back on a free transfer just to get rid of his reported €12m-per-year wages. The problem is that any other club are unlikely to meet the 26-year-old’s salary demands.
Junior Firpo
The left-back’s days in Catalonia are said to be numbered with Inter Milan as favourites for his signature.
Firpo has made just two substitute appearances for the Blaugrana this season across all competitions as Koeman prefers Jordi Alba and Sergino Dest to the Brazilian.
Junior’s move from Betis cost Barca €18m in 2019 and the Catalans could realistically recoup that money in the winter.
Carles Alena
With Miralem Pjanic, Sergio Busquets, Frenkie de Jong, Philippe Coutinho and Pedri ahead of him in the pecking order, Alena can hardly expect enough regular time at Barca this term.
Carles’ 7-minute cameo in the Dynamo Kyiv win remains his only appearance for the Catalans under Koeman. The La Masia graduate is now valued at €18m by Transfermarkt.
Martin Braithwaite
Well, there’s probably no need to dwell much on the Dane’s role at Camo Nou.
Braithwaite was signed as an emergency option to replace injured Luis Suarez in February and Barca would be lucky to get a few million for the 29-year-old striker in the winter.
As a reminder, Depay and Garcia are set to become free agents at the end of the season, so Lyon and City are likely to sell them on the cheap in January. Around €40-50m should be enough to land both players in midseason.
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