FC Barcelona Preparing to Trade Players This Summer

It seems that FC Barcelona plans to have a big summer cleanup. According to the various sources from Spain and Europe, Blaugrana wants to make radical changes in its roster. There are several players who are on the exit door, among them Ousmane Dembele, Philippe Coutinho, Arturo Vidal, some say even Antoine Griezmann.

COVID-19 pandemic struck the Spanish titan pretty badly. Barca had several plans for the upcoming transfer window, but all of them are now on hold, and what is more frightening might be abandoned. The financial situation in the club is not shiny at all. Cash flow is disrupted, there are no incomes from the games, competitions, and, more importantly, from the sponsors.

It is why the board wanted to cut the salaries of the players, which aroused some sort of frustration among many players.

Barcelona are aiming to raise €125 million as they chase Neymar and Lautaro Martinez 💰

And they're hoping a Premier League club will come in for Philippe Coutinho 👀

✍️ @IgnasiOliva

— GOAL News (@GoalNews) April 18, 2020

Barcelona planned to land Neymar and Lautaro Martinez, and those two guys were at the top of the list and the biggest priorities of the Spaniards. However, with a thin wallet, those two transfers will be hard to pull out.

Inter won’t let go Martinez without at least € 100 million. And if Barca wants to get past Nerazzurri and activate a release clause, they will have to pay €111 million which is the sum regulated in the Argentinian’s contract. On the other side, Neymar’s situation is even more complicated, and he has an even stronger agreement with Paris Saint Germain.

The Brazilian is keen to leave, and he already suggested on several occasions that coming back to Barcelona is his goal. After leaving abruptly in 2017, for the record-breaking fee, Neymar’s stint in Paris didn’t develop as he planned. At first, Edinson Cavani didn’t allow him to impose as a leader, and after that, the fans openly showed that they don’t like his attitude. Because of all that, Brazil’s No.10 wants to leave.

Barcelona’s president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, stated that he believes that the majority of top European clubs are going to have problems with cash this summer. It is why Barca’s leading figure shares the opinion that the teams are going to exchange players, rather than use money in their transactions.

“There is not going to be as much money in the transfer market because of the pandemic,” Bartomeu said. “But I predict that we are going to see a lot more swap deals.”

That is why Barca offered Vidal or Dembele plus the money for Martinez. On the other side, they are trying to include Griezmann in Neymar’s transfer. PSG showed some desire to land the most important member of the French national team, but still, they want a lot of money for the Brazilian.

Some part of that sum could be collected with Coutinho’s sale. He is currently on loan in Bayern Munich, but there are plenty of teams interested in this player. Ivan Rakitic might leave Camp Nou too.

Interesting summer is ahead of us. Barca is just one of the teams who will undergo the reconstruction of its team. The amount of money is decreased as Bartomeu said, which implies that we might see some pretty unusual trades during the upcoming transfer window,