Author name: admink

Having allowed Samuel Umtiti to leave the club with a letter of freedom recently, Barcelona are set to terminate the contract of another of their players in the form of Alex Collado, reports Gerard Romero.

The 24-year-old La Masia graduate will be back at the club after having completed his loan spell at Elche. It was far from a memorable stint for Collado as he had to deal with injuries while he was not always a regular in the side.

As such, the Barcelona loanee finished the 2022/23 campaign with only 17 appearances in which he managed a goal and an assist.

Given that he has no place in Xavi Hernandez’s plans at Barça and the club’s need to lower their salary mass, the writing has been on the wall for a while now, as far as Collado’s future has been concerned.

However, finding suitors, especially those who would be willing to pay any transfer fee to secure his services, has not been easy so far.

There has been some interest from clubs in Spain and Greece, but no concrete movement has been made yet. Given the delays in player exits, Barça have had to hold back on their transfer plans thus far.

As such, the Catalans have decided to go ahead and terminate Collado’s contract and give up an opportunity to receive any transfer fee. His exit would help reduce the wage bill even though it would not be by a big margin.

The player could be on his way out of the club before the end of this week. He would depart having made only two senior appearances for Barcelona.

Barcelona midfielder Pablo Torre will certainly leave the club on loan this summer but is not going to make a decision about his new club in haste, reports Ferran Martinez of Mundo Deportivo.

Torre joined Barcelona last summer, arriving from Racing Santander in a deal worth €5 million. The Catalans beat arch-rivals Real Madrid to the youngster’s signing and manager Xavi wanted the young midfielder in the first-team dynamics right away.

However, minutes were very hard to come by for Torre given the competition in the middle of the park. As such, the 20-year-old played just 13 matches for the senior side across all competitions, scoring and assisting one goal apiece.

Barça do not wish for Torre’s development to stall due to the lack of minutes. And they have told the young midfielder that the best move for him is to join a La Liga club on loan so that he can accrue regular playing time and continue his progression.

Torre is understood to have accepted that he will be on the move temporarily but is not in a hurry to choose his next club as he wants to take his time and ensure that he makes the right choice.

As such, there is a possibility that Torre will even fly to the USA with the rest of the team for the pre-season tour and leaves Barça after returning from North America.

Villarreal are one of the clubs to have shown interest in Torre and could be a good place for the 20-year-old to develop, considering that they will be able to offer him European football as well.

Towards the end of the last season, there were a lot of murmurs about Jules Kounde and his continuity as it emerged that the defender had become upset about being used as a right-back when he promised that he would play at centre-back when he arrived.

The talk died down soon, with the defender himself and manager Xavi Hernandez playing down all talks of a departure. However, it was acknowledged that Kounde would be moved to his natural habitat at centre-back next season.

But, given the financial situation at hand, Barça are not certain about whether they can sign a new right-back in the transfer window, especially given their struggles in offloading players.

As such, journalist Sique Rodriguez is reporting that Xavi has convinced Kounde to continue playing as a makeshift right-back next season as well after holding several talks with the Frenchman.

Kounde joined Barcelona last summer from Sevilla in a deal worth €50 million. As iterated earlier, he was signed to reinforce the centre-back position.

But with Ronald Araujo and Andreas Christensen forming a great partnership and the lack of options at right-back led to Xavi stationing the Frenchman on the right side of the defence, where his performances exceeded expectations.

However, Kounde has always maintained that he wants to play at centre-back. But with Sergi Roberto and Julian Araujo the only other potential options at right-back, the Frenchman could once again be asked to do the job, especially with Araujo being linked with a departure.

It is now believed that Xavi has had multiple chats with Kounde about the same and it appears that they have worked as the 24-year-old is convinced about continuing at right-back next season should the need arise.

Much will depend on whether Barcelona do sign a new right-back or not this summer. They have been linked with the likes of Joao Cancelo and Ivan Fresneda. But if no move goes through, Kounde could again find himself filling in as a full-back.

According to a report from SPORT, Barcelona have set their sight on Arsenal youngster Miguel Azeez as a transfer target to reinforce the Barça Atletic roster for next season.

Rafa Marquez’s side will go through a soft rebuild as there are several players that have departed either with their contracts expiring or loan spells coming to an end while some are looking to make a headway into senior football.

As such, the midfield department at Barcelona’s subsidiary side has been weakened, which the club are hoping to reinforce with the signing of Azeez.

The 20-year-old starlet is a product of Arsenal’s youth academy and made his first and only senior appearance for the Gunners in December 2020, in the UEFA Europa League.

Azeez has spent time in Spain as he was on loan at UD Ibiza in the first half of the last season before returning to England to spend the second part of the campaign at Wigan Athletic.

Now back at Arsenal, Azeez, able to play in a multitude of positions in midfield, has a contract with the Gunners until the summer of 2024. But, Barcelona wish to sign him and are hoping to get his services for free by offering them a percentage of any future sale.

If he agrees to the move, Azeez would be following in the footsteps of Marcus McGuane, who also joined the Blaugrana subsidiary in 2017 from Arsenal’s youth team. He lasted at the club for a little over two years before returning to England.

And Barcelona would be hoping that things would not go down a similar road with Azeez as well should they indeed sign him to strengthen their reserve team.

Last month, Tottenham confirmed that Clement Lenglet will be returning to FC Barcelona after the expiry of his loan spell. But talks were understood to be continuing in the background over a possible permanent transfer.

In fact, some reports even suggested that the defender and the London club had reached an agreement in principle over his contract terms. But the talks of a transfer have gone quiet recently, casting doubts about whether Spurs do intend to sign him or not.

But the Premier League giants are waiting it out for Barcelona to possibly terminate his contract so that they can sign the defender on a free transfer this summer, reports AS.

The Spanish news publication claims Deco is currently working on two important files right now, as Barcelona look to reduce their salary mass. One of them is Lenglet, who is coming on the back of a relatively impressive loan spell at Spurs.

Tottenham were understood to be keen on a permanent transfer, but there was a difference in the valuation of the player between the two clubs.

And, the Lilywhites are now hoping that the Catalans will now terminate his contract, much like they did with Samuel Umtiti, which will enable them to sign the defender on a free transfer this summer.

The idea of Barça handing Lenglet a letter of freedom is not so far-fetched either. After returning to Camp Nou this summer, the defender is entitled to a figure of around €16 million next season in the form of wages.

That would greatly burden Barcelona, especially given the current economic situation. With that in mind, the Blaugrana might not rule out the possibility of terminating the contract of the former Sevilla centre-back, who has no future at the club.

The Catalans, though, could always wait around for other suitors. Lenglet, after all, has enjoyed a good season in the Premier League, which is bound to attract interest.

There is a possibility the club could lower their demands for the defender, so it will be interesting to see how things transpire in the coming weeks.

In their latest attempt to woo Arda Guler, Barcelona have come up with a fresh offer for the Fenerbahce youngster, who has become the focal point of the transfer market right now.

Real Madrid were initially touted as the frontrunner in the race to sign Guler. But Barcelona have recently disrupted the transfer saga by approaching Fenerbahce with their proposal to keep the player in Turkey next season.

According to Ajansspor, Barcelona have submitted a fresh offer for Arda Guler, in order to satisfy both parties. The club are willing to pay up to €20-25 million for the youngster, in two separate instalments.

As the Catalans are not paying the entirety of Guler’s €17.5 million asking price this summer, they are willing to send Guler back to Fenerbahce on a season-long loan deal.

Fenerbahce reportedly wanted to retain a 20% future sell-on fee as well, but it appears Barcelona are trying to eliminate that by offering a higher premium, albeit in two instalments.

In addition to paying a higher premium, Barcelona are also willing to meet Guler’s salary for next year, which should further appeal to Fenerbahce.

As for Guler himself, there were reports the Turkish whizkid was not too keen on prolonging his stay at Fenerbahce and wanted to make the jump to a bigger club this summer. In order to woo the youngster, Barcelona have offered Guler a 20-match guarantee when he joins the club.

It can be constituted as a smart move, as one of Guler’s absolute priorities was to secure regular game-time, even at a top club in Europe.

Barcelona, in light of their reliance on young players, are in a position to do so next season. So it will be interesting to see whether or not Blaugrana‘s latest offer will be enough to satisfy both Fenerbahce and Guler this summer.

With the summer transfer window officially open in Spain, Barcelona are looking to strengthen their squad to defend their La Liga title and challenge for European glory in the coming season.

However, before they can make signings, the Catalan giants have another very important issue to take care of – that of registering the new contracts of several players.

Indeed, at the time of writing on July 1, Barcelona have only 13 first-team players registered with La Liga as per the data on the league’s official website (h/t Mundo Deportivo).

This is because of the non-registration of the contract renewals of players like Inaki Pena, Ronald Araujo, Sergi Roberto, and Marcos Alonso.

All four players’ previous contracts were expiring on June 30, 2023, but have renewed their deals. But given the club’s Financial Fair Play situation, those new contracts have not yet been registered.

But Barça economic vice-president Eduard Romeu has assured that there will not be any problems with the club administration paying €6.67 million to La Liga as a guarantee for the economic viability plan.

At this time, the only registered first-team players are Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Eric Garcia, Andreas Christensen, Jules Kounde, Frenkie de Jong, Pedri, Gavi, Franck Kessie, Ferran Torres, Ansu Fati, Robert Lewandowski, Ousmane Dembele, and Raphinha.

Gavi’s registration was once again granted after the court overturned its decision to revoke the precautionary measure that had allowed for the 18-year-old’s new first-team contract to be registered.

Alejandro Balde is still on his subsidiary contract and thus does not feature on the list, although he is expected to sign a new deal soon which should also be registered without an issue following the guarantee payment.

As for new signing Ilkay Gundogan, he only signed from Manchester City recently and is yet to be registered as well.

The club will be hoping to take care of the registration of the aforementioned players at the earliest possible and then go after their targets in the market, although player sales are needed first for the club to be able to bring in new faces.

Barcelona manager Xavi sees his ongoing contract with the club expire in 2024. There had been talks about a renewal right after the 2022/23 season was over but nothing has been made official yet.

And recently, president Joan Laporta publicly admitted that the manager’s renewal was not a top priority for the club right now, with other matters taking precedence.

“When the time comes we will talk. First there are priorities and Xavi understands that. We’ll talk calmly, but we want him to continue and so does he. I’m convinced that he will go further. We haven’t set a date,” Laporta had pointed out in a TV interview a few days ago.

Building on the matter, Spanish publication Mundo Deportivo has reported that Xavi is quite calm about the situation and he understands that his renewal process will slow down mostly because there already are several recurring issues at the club.

Furthermore, the fact remains that his representatives have already met with the club in order to discuss the issue.

In all fairness, Xavi’s continuity is not going to be a problem in any way. The 43-year-old is more than willing to continue and even the board wants him to stay.

For that, the team is being prepared as per his scheme of things, which is the biggest indicator that he will remain at the helm.

Having taken over the reins of the club in November 2021, Xavi did a solid job of leading Barcelona to a second-place finish in La Liga that season.

Building on that, the legend guided the Catalan giants to the league title and the Spanish Super Cup triumph in the 2022/23 campaign, earning a renewal with his club.

While it might not be closed right away, there are no concerns about the issue and it will be taken care of once the other priorities are handled.

In what could be a huge step in the right direction, FC Barcelona sporting director Deco has seemingly sealed an agreement in principle with Turkish sensation Arda Guler, reports Gerard Romero.

The 18-year-old Fenerbahce wonderkid has become one of the most coveted young talents in Europe and Barcelona are gunning for his signature.

Having held talks with his club and the player’s camp this week, the La Liga champions have become optimistic about their chances of signing Guler.

In fact, some reports suggest that they could seal an agreement for the transfer next week, although the youngster might have to spend the next season at Fenerbahce.

Now, it appears that Deco has secured an agreement in principle with the player over a possible transfer to Barcelona.

An attacking midfielder with a wand of a left foot, Guler is regarded as a generational talent and has top clubs like Barça, Real Madrid, AC Milan, and Arsenal gunning for his signing.

But, Deco’s trip to Turkey earlier this week might have tilted the balance in favour of the Catalan heavyweights, with Romero reporting that the former midfielder might have already closed an agreement with the teenage sensation.

As far as his arrival is concerned, most reports have been suggesting that Barça plan to bring him in next season due to their current financial situation.

However, Romero reported last night that there was increasing optimism that the Blaugrana might rope Guler in this summer itself.

The 18-year-old has a €17.5 million release clause in his contract with Fenerbahce and his wages are not expected to be very high either.

But his arrival would still be subject to the Financial Fair Play situation and it remains to be seen whether Guler does make his way to Barcelona this summer or in 2024. As things stand, though, the Catalans appear to be closing in on acquiring his services.

Barcelona were able to reunite former Borussia Dortmund teammates Robert Lewandowski and Ilkay Gundogan this summer. But another ex-Dortmund star, who might have liked to be a part of this reunion is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

The Gabonese international, who is set to leave Chelsea this summer, has been batting for a return to Camp Nou for a long time. In a recent interview, he reflected on his time at Barça, and praised some of his old teammates at the club.

Talking about his short six-month stint in Catalonia, Aubameyang said (h/t FCB World): “It was special, every time the fans were singing my song.”

When asked to name his favourite moment with the club, he replied: “The 4-0 win over Real Madrid.”

Aubameyang indeed had a fond spell at Barcelona. Despite being a part of the team for a little over six months, the forward scored 13 goals in 24 league appearances. He was rather unfortunate to be offloaded by the club last summer.

The Gabonese international, though, has no resentment toward the club. In fact, he harbours massive respect for some of his old teammates, including Ousmane Dembele.

When asked to choose between Dembele and Kylian Mbappe, the forward chose Dembele, adding, “Dembele is my favourite player, and he is my friend.”

Aubameyang heaped praise on yet another former Dortmund teammate in Lewandowski. “I love him. He is a player who has taught me a lot,” he said.

The former Dortmund starlet went on to praise Barcelona’s young trio Gavi, Ronald Araujo and Pedri. “Pedri and Gavi are sensational players,” he said. “Toughest opponent I’ve ever faced? Araujo, but he was my teammate.”

Aubameyang’s comments are the latest indication of his desire to return to Barcelona. Unfortunately for both parties, a return might not be a possibility anymore, as the Catalans continue to focus on the pursuit of Vitor Roque ahead of the new season.