With Ousmane Dembele on the verge of signing for Paris Saint-Germain, an unexpected starting position is now available in the Barcelona line-up, however, that could soon be two spots if the Catalans push through a sale for one of their players previously linked with Man United.
The Red Devils have had a brilliant window thus far, with Erik ten Hag landing all of the major targets that he’s gone for.
It’s believed that the club will now need to sell before they buy again, but with moves afoot for Harry Maguire, Fred and Donny van de Beek as a minimum, that shouldn’t be too hard to achieve.
From Barca’s point of view, FFP has still hamstrung them to a certain extent though they could still spring a few surprises before the end of the window.
‘(Ansu) Fati would love to stay at Barça. He loves the club and he’d like success there with the number 10 on his shirt,’ Fabrizio Romano wrote in his exclusive CaughtOffside Substack.
‘But I’m told – keep an eye on him until the end of the window, because something is happening with clubs interested and trying to tempt Barcelona. Let’s see. I have no confirmation on which clubs are interested yet but the situation remains open.’
Fati was linked with the Red Devils back in April according to AS, and then, as now, the player wasn’t interested in moving on.
He’s been in good goalscoring form across the pre-season for the Catalans, and approaches the new season seemingly full of confidence and with his injury concerns hopefully behind him.
Regardless of that, there still appears to be the opportunity for Barca to do some last-minute manoeuvring in the transfer market, so it’s worth keeping an eye on this one right up to deadline day.