With the La Liga title in the bag, Barcelona will now put their full focus on resolving their Financial Fair Play situation ahead of the summer transfer window.
With there being a need to reduce their salary mass by €200 million and generate income at the same time, player sales will hold the key for the newly-crowned Spanish champions.
And, according to journalist Achraf Ben Ayad, Barcelona are prioritising the summer sale of four players in order to achieve Fair Play. The four stars in question are Ansu Fati, Ferran Torres, Franck Kessie, and Raphinha.
Apart from these four priority exits, Barça will also offload players who are not part of the plans and are looking for solutions.
Fati’s name has been linked most with a summer exit, even though president Joan Laporta affirmed earlier today that the club intend to keep hold of the 20-year-old attacker.
The Spaniard is attracting interest from clubs in the Premier League and could attract a sizeable transfer fee despite having had a difficult season.
As far as Ferran is concerned, he too has not had the best of campaigns but continues to have a market in the Premier League. And even though he does not wish to leave the club, the Blaugrana are open to a sale and will discuss his exit with any interested team.
Meanwhile, Kessie’s exit is seen as more of a strategic manouevre as he is not a regular starter in Xavi’s team, and considering that he arrived for free, all the fees generated from his sale can be written down as net profit in the balance sheets.
There is no shortage of suitors for the Ivorian either, with clubs in Italy and England being credited with interest.
As for Raphinha, he too is seen as more of a strategic exit due to the interest he is attracting from the Premier League and the possibility of fetching a big sum for his sale.
Newcastle United have been heavily linked and can stump up the €80 million that Barça are demanding for him.
Apart from these four stars, Barcelona will also look to sanction exits for out-of-favour players that are currently on loan such as Sergino Dest, Clement Lenglet, Samuel Umtiti, and Alex Collado.
This will be crucial for the La Liga champions to achieve Fair Play margin that would then enable them to register the new contracts of several players and sign new players, including Lionel Messi.
