Barcelona are reportedly set to give the green light to Junior Firpo’s exit, and could even include him in an offer to Inter for Lautaro Martinez.
As noted by BBC Sport, the former Real Betis defender was signed last summer in a deal which could be worth £27.5m in total.
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The 23-year-old has gone on to make just 17 appearances across all competitions so far this season as he has struggled to displace Jordi Alba, and now speculation suggests that he could be on his way out of the Nou Camp after just one year.
According to Sport, Barcelona are preparing to put him on the transfer market with a €20m valuation, while it’s noted that there is interest from Italy.
However, the report goes on to add that they could try to include him in a swap deal offer for Inter’s Martinez, which in turn could perhaps lower the fee involved in any such signing as the Italian giants are said to have a potential interest.
Selling Firpo arguably doesn’t make a great deal of sense from Barcelona’s perspective, as they’d be back in a difficult position of not having quality depth and cover at left-back behind Alba.
Unless they have plans to bring in another signing to address that problem if they axed Firpo, possibly using him to prise Martinez away wouldn’t be such a smart strategy as they would surely be required to sign another left-back to fill that particular void.
Time will tell how the situation plays out, but the report certainly doesn’t paint a positive picture as far as his future at Barcelona is concerned, but it remains to be seen if Inter are willing to discuss that specific swap deal.