Swap transfers are a great idea in theory when there’s not a lot of money going around, but it absolutely depends on the players agreeing to make the move in the first place.
Barcelona are looking to add another midfielder and there was an obvious connection to make between Gini Wijnaldum and Ronald Koeman, but the former Liverpool man has now signed for PSG so other options need to be examined.
Barca did engineer a swap deal of sorts last summer as Arthur Melo went to Juventus and Miralem Pjanic went the other way, so Mundo Deportivo reported that they were looking for a similar operation with Roma this time round.
The deal would see Clement Llenglet go to Jose Mourinho’s side and their midfield star Lorenzo Pellegrini would go the other way, and he does look like the kind of player who would improve this Barca team.
He’s a brilliant all-round midfielder with the mobility and work rate to bring something new to the team, but it doesn’t look like the operation has any chance of going ahead.
It’s suggested that Lenglet isn’t even willing to contemplate making the move to Italy so it’s dead before it’s even begun, and it’s hard to see Barca having the money to sign him outright so they’ll need to come up with another plan.