Barcelona are set to have an ‘interesting summer’ according to Director of Football Mateu Alemany, and a significant portion of their squad appears to be in question too.
The Blaugrana know they must save or raise a total of €180m this summer in order to be able to register contracts given to Gavi, Ronald Araujo and Marcos Alonso, before they even think about bringing more players in.
One of those most under the microscope is Brazilian winger Raphinha. While the former Leeds United star has put up good numbers this season, scoring 10 goals and providing 11 assists, there are still some doubts about his performance. He has proven important to Xavi Hernandez this season, but with Ousmane Dembele fit, it seems likely that Raphinha will be relegated to the bench.
Diario AS point out that he is a rather expensive substitute, particularly for a stretched accountancy department. Raphinha arrived for €65m (other sources put this at €58m), with a salary of €12m for the duration of his five-year deal. It means that with ammortisation, Barcelona still have €100m to pay for Raphinha over the next four years.
If they were to sell him, they would need to do so for at least €52m, having already ammortised some of his fee and salary. The handling of his future could well be decisive in terms of what business Barcelona are able to do this summer.
Ansu Fati has no fee to ammortise, thus his sale stands out as the most beneficial in terms of finances, while Ferran Torres has similar terms to that of Raphinha, with €80m still to pay in both salary and fee.
President Joan Laporta has said that one or two may have to leave in the past, with the club intending to bring in another forward this summer too. It is difficult to see that recruitment plan coming off without at least two major sales, and with Ferran both younger and likely to command a lesser transfer fee, between the two, Raphinha makes more economic sense at least.
