As Barcelona scramble to get their finances sorted ahead of the summer, player sales will become an important tool for the club in their bid to achieve Fair Play.
It is no secret that Barça are pushing to bring back Lionel Messi in the summer. At the same time, the La Liga leaders also need to register the new contracts of Gavi, Ronald Araujo, Marcos Alonso, and Sergi Roberto. So, it goes without saying that they must start planning to resolve their problems at the earliest.
And, according to Sergi Sole of Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona are planning to raise a total of €100 million from player sales this summer, with five stars facing the possibility of being axed.
Indeed, as per the report, Barça are considering offloading the Spanish trio of Ansu Fati, Ferran Torres, and Eric Garcia, along with last summer’s arrivals Franck Kessie and Raphinha in order to generate revenue this summer.
Fati and Ferran’s names have been linked with exits for quite some time now. Neither player has been able to make the most of his chances this season and has fallen down the pecking order under Xavi Hernandez, more so in the case of Ansu.
Given that he is a homegrown player, any transfer fee generated from his sale would be written off as full profit in the books, which makes him a prime candidate to be sold. There is interest from Tottenham, Manchester United and Bayern Munich in the forward.
As for Ferran, a sale could prove tricky as his transfer has not been fully amortized yet. But the Spaniard has a market in England where he impressed with Manchester City.
The same holds for Raphinha as well, as his transfer is not amortized either. And while Barcelona value the Brazilian, his recent behaviour is said to have left a bad taste within the club. He, too, has suitors in the Premier League, with the likes of Chelsea and Newcastle United being linked in the recent past.
As for Kessie, after a slow start to life in Barcelona, the Ivorian had started to prove his worth in recent months, especially in the absences of Pedri and Frenkie de Jong. However, given that he arrived for free, the transfer fee received would be chalked as net profit in the books, making him an enticing option to sell.
The same applies to Eric Garcia as well, who had lost prominence in the team this season, but had shown signs of a resurgence of late while providing Xavi an option in the pivot position. Any proceeds from his sale would also be written as total profits.
Apart from these five first-team stars, Barcelona will also look to cash in on players away on loan such as Samuel Umtiti, Alex Collado, Clement Lenglet, Sergino Dest, and Nico Gonzalez, while Ez Abde could also be a candidate for sale if a high-enough offer arrives.
It remains to be seen how successful Barça are in their efforts to offload these players and reach their target of raising €100 million from sales.
