- Barcelona set to offload a number of bit-part players to raise funds
- €66m would help them balance out spending on Coutinho
- All five players linked with exits haven’t played prominent roles this season
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Barcelona are reportedly set to offload a number of bit-part players in a bid to raise funds and balance their books after signing Philippe Coutinho.
As per BBC Sport, the Catalan splashed out £142m on the Brazilian playmaker, and coupled with their spending on Ousmane Dembele last summer, that’s a lot of money going out of the club.
In turn, it makes perfect sense that they would seek a way of bringing in money to balance that spending out, with Sport putting forward five names that they wish to offload in order to raise around €66m, which would cover half of Coutinho’s price-tag.
Those five players are: Gerard Deulofeu, Rafinha, Aleix Vidal, Javier Mascherano and Arda Turan.
In truth, it’s difficult to see how Barcelona would miss that group of players if they were to leave, although there is a negative to it in that they would be losing a lot of depth to their squad which could hurt them as they continue to fight on multiple fronts this season for major honours.
To counter that argument though, Turan hasn’t played a single game this season, the others have been restricted to bit-part roles and have failed to establish themselves in the starting line-up, while the signing of Yerry Mina surely paves the way for Mascherano to move on as the Colombian is effectively a long-term replacement for him as a defensive option for Ernesto Valverde.
As a result, it seems like a pretty sensible transfer strategy from the La Liga leaders, but the question mark now hangs over whether or not all five above will attract enough attention and get the price-tags that Barcelona believe that they’re worth.
Given that they’re all still quality players, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Barca got close to their reported desired figure of €66m.