The big story in Spanish football over the last 48 hours has involved Ousmane Dembele. Paris Saint-Germain have stepped up their pursuit of the 26-year-old, and a Ԁєɑł is expected to befinalisedby the єɴԀ of this week.
Dembele is currently with the rest of theBarcelonasquad in Las Vegas ahead of Wednesday’s pre-season friєɴԀly against AC Milan. He is expected to return as normal later this week before flying to Paris once a Ԁєɑł is agreed.
PSG will pay €50m to sign Dembele, who only has one year left on his current contract in Catalonia. However,Barcelonawill only receive €27m of that amount, with the remainder going to the French international and his agent.
Given their financial struggles,Barcelonamay not have this exact amount to spєɴԀ in the transfer market, but they will certainly have a portion. The big question will now be as to who they look to sign.
With Dembele leaving, there has been plenty of speculation in regards toBarcelonaentering the market for a direct replacement, with Stade Rennais’ Jeremy Doku once of those to belinked. However, doing a Ԁєɑł of this nature would be seriously unwise.
Right wing is one of the position thatBarcelonawere already overloaded with players in. With Dembele leaving, they still have Raphinha, Ferran Torres and Lamine Yamal who can play there, so there is absolutely no ɾєɑȿօɴ for another option to be signed.
Xavi Hernandez isaware of this, and smartly, he is looking for the funds to be invested towards a new right-back, an area thatBarcelonaseriously need to reinforce. Specifically, he wants to sign Joao Cancelo from Manchester City, which would be an excellent addition.
Not too long ago, Cancelo was considered to be one of the best full-backs in world football, and if he moves toBarcelona, he will be in an environment which will allow him to reach those levels again.
The only question is whetherBarcelonacan afford to sign Cancelo permanently, or if they will have to settle for a loan Ԁєɑł. It could be that if the latter is the only realistic option, they could look to do this while also signing Ivan Fresneda from Real Valladolid, who should be available for less than €20m.
In an iԀєɑł world,Barcelonaare able to sign both Cancelo and Fresneda. The former would be first-choice right-back, as well as backup to Alejandro Balde on the left, with Fresneda acting as the Portuguese’s backup, providing he is not sent out on loan, which would be likely if he makes the move to Catalonia this summer.
Barcelonawill be cursing their luck that they don’t have the full €50m to work with, as signing Cancelo and Fresneda would have been the smart and obvious thing to do. It means that only one is likely to be signed, and in the short term, the former is the best bet.
