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As Barcelona continue their pursuit of a new midfielder, they are showing serious interest in signing Manchester City captain Ilkay Gundogan on a Bosman transfer in the summer, reports Mike McGrath on The Telegraph.

The 32-year-old midfielder is in the final six months of his contract with the Cityzens and is yet to sign a new deal. It has paved the way for rumours about his future beyond the summer, with Barcelona keen on snapping up his services before next season.

Barça are likely to part ways with Sergio Busquets at the end of the season, with the club captain’s contract expiring in the summer as well. While Xavi wants the 34-year-old to stay beyond the season, there is no certainty that he will pen an extension.

As a result, the Catalans are looking for a new midfielder to take over from him. Given their financial situation, the La Liga leaders are looking for bargain buys and free transfer acquisitions to reinforce their roster.

A move for N’Golo Kante of Chelsea is also under consideration, but the Frenchman is likely to renew his contract at Stamford Bridge. It has compelled Barcelona to take a more serious interest in the services of Gundogan.

A vastly experienced individual, the German international has been critical to the success that Manchester City have achieved during the Pep Guardiola era.

And even though he would not be a long-term solution for Barça, the 32-year-old could be a handy fix for a season or two, until the club sort out their finances and sign a proper alternative for Busquets.

Gundogan could yet receive an offer from Manchester City, but Barcelona are keeping a close watch on the situation as they line up a summer move for the veteran midfielder on a free transfer.

The midfielder did not want to talk about a potential summer departure
Sergio Busquets spoke to the media on Saturday ahead of the Clasico Spanish Super Cup final.

The captain wants to focus on the game and not questions over his future, with his contract expiring in the summer.

“There’s nothing new and I haven’t decided, I’m focused on a final that is very important,” said Busquets.

Busquets cut the speculation short.

“I don’t know and I wouldn’t say it in a press conference, don’t ask me more about it because I won’t say, I will always put the team or a trophy before a personal decision.”

The midfielder reached his 700th Barca game against Betis on Thursday.

Xavi is interested in him staying but he has interesting offers from the USA and one from Saudi Arabia.

Atletico want Memphis this month but Barça want to set the conditions

Barcelona are willing to part with Memphis Depay — although only on their terms.

It has been published that one of the players who could enter into a possible operation with Atletico Madrid is Thomas Lemar, who would be the Rojiblancos’ preferred option to convince the Blaugrana sports committee.

However, there will be no deal with Lemar. The option presented by Barça is very different: Yannick Carrasco.

The Belgian winger is liked by Barça and the sporting committee led by director of football Mateu Alemany has put his name on the table.

In fact, Barça are a little fed up with the fact that in practically all the negotiations that are established with Atletico, they seem to lose out.

So, on this occasion, the operation will only be carried out if the conditions set by Barça are met.

In fact, the entire sporting committee agrees because the coaching staff led by Xavi Hernández also welcome the idea of Carrasco joining until the end of the season.

It would be necessary to see under what conditions and the clauses of a double deal that would take Memphis to Atletico and Carrasco to Barcelona, although Xavi would be very satisfied if he had a player like the Belgian in the coming months.

The Brazilian has been in and out of the Barça team in recent weeks

One of Barcelona’s big signings last summer was the arrival of Brazil international Raphinha from Leeds United for a fee of around €60 million.

Raphinha was signed to make the difference in the final third and to take over one of the two wide roles in Xavi Hernandez’s 4-3-3 formation.

However, there have been ups and downs for the attacker in his first Camp Nou campaign and he has not managed to find his best form yet.

The message from Barça is one of patience, but the club’s delicate financial situation means various players could leave if big offers were to arrive.

According to ‘Calciomercato’, AC Milan are thinking of moving for Raphinha next summer. They consider him one of the best in he world in his position.

The report indicates that Paolo Maldini, Milan legend and the club’s current sporting director, is a big fan of the man from Porto Alegre.

The forward has a contract in Germany until 2024 and is non-committal on his future

Dani Olmo has always been in Barcelona’s orbit. There are very good reports about him at the club and not too long ago, during Ronald Koeman’s time on the bench, the club considered his return because the Dutch coach asked to sign him. The economic situation prevented Barça from considering it seriously, but in the future, you never know.

In an interview with Bild, the RB Leipzig player has acknowledged that Barça, who he played for until he was 16, will always be his home.

“I played there for six years when I was young,” Olmo said. “It will always be home to me. Many of my friends from the national team play there.”

Olmo would also like to return to the Spanish league one day: “I want to go back at some point, it would be great. Spain is my country, my league. My family and friends live there. But I’m not just tied to Spain. The most important thing for me is to play for a club where I feel loved and important.”

Olmo has a contract with the German club until June 2024 and he doesn’t know what the future will hold for him. He is focused on football and has not yet spoken with Leipzig about a possible renewal, although he admits that he may do so shortly.

“I have my agent who is in charge,” he added. “I only focus on football. I have spoken with Max Eberl several times, but so far not on the subject. Maybe we will talk about it again here at the training ground. We will see what happens. Everything is possible.”

One of his next challenges will be the Champions League tie against Manchester City, one of the best teams in the world today and one of the favorites to lift the competition.

Without a doubt, the duel against the English side will be a major challenge for Leipzig. Asked who scares him more, Guardiola or Haaland, Olmo preferred to opt for the strength of the team overall: “It’s hard to pick a name in a team like that. There are also players like De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva. But we also have enough good players to challenge them. It’s going to be tough.”.

The forward was one of the members of the Spain team that participated in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Luis Enrique always trusted in him.

“I loved working with him,” Olmo said of Luis Enrique leaving after the World Cup. “With him, you felt like you were in a school class at every meeting, at every speech, because you learned a lot. I have to thank him for all these years.”

The Dutchman is going to be ostracised again when Lewandowski returns

Barca coach Xavi Hernandez made it clear he didn’t want changes to the squad. He’s comfortable with what he has and with no arrivals possible, he asked for nobody to leave. That’s where things are, but Memphis Depay’s future is still in the air and in the final days of the market things could happen.

Memphis understands his complicated situation at Barca. He’s had some minutes but knows when Robert Lewandowski is fit agian his ostracism will continue. He’s the last option for Xavi. Various Premier League sides are curious about signing him.

Man United, Newcastle, Arsenal and Chelsea are waiting to hear from his people. At some of these clubs, Memphis is not the first option but the market is not rich with attackers so the situation could change. He and his people are keeping quiet but are expecting a meeting in January to analyse the situation.

Barca will not make it easy for him to leave like they did in January, though, when they were willing to let him go to Juventus for free. Now they will only accept a fee for loaning him until the end of his deal with all his wages paid.

The midfielder is out of contract in the summer and wants his future cleared up by February

Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández has commented on the possibility of Sergio Busquets renewing his contract and continuing next season in his press conference prior to the clash against Atlético Madrid:

“I don’t know what he is going to decide,” Xavi said. “It will depend on his performances and how we are with (LaLiga’s) fair play (rules).”

Busquets is out of contract in the summer and has not yet decided what his next move will be. 

He had expressed a desire to play in Major League Soccer and live in Miami, though, and said he would like things cleared up by February. 

Xavi, meanwhile, will be without Robert Lewandowski and Jordi Alba due to suspension against Atletico on Sunday.

He is already planning for next season but says so many factors will influence what happens with Busquets: financially, performances and context.

As for the January transfer window, Xavi said: “If we don’t touch anything, perfect. We will compete with what we have.”

Xavi Hernandez is happy with the squad he has despite the window opening up

Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández has almost ruled out the arrival of any new signings in the January window due to the difficulty in registering players and the conviction that the squad is well structured.

“I have spoken with Jordi (Cruyff), Mateu (Alemany) and the club and I have made it clear to them that I am happy with what I have in the squad and that if nothing changes then I will be delighted because we are working very well,” Xavi said Saturday.

Xavi showed full confidence in the current squad to win trophies: “The truth is that I am very happy with the team I have. In the summer, we signed a lot and well and I think we have a very competitive team to take on all competitions we are in.”

He did previously ask about the possibility of incorporating a right-back if there was a good market opportunity, but Barça have a very difficult financial situation and, if there are no exits, as the coach wants, there will be no incoming.

In fact, he’ll bet on Memphis staying, too, because there could be injuries and setbacks later in the season and he doesn’t want to lose numbers.

Here are the Barcelona president’s key quotes from his chat with Cadena SER

Barcelona chief Joan Laporta spoke on various topics in his chat with Cadena SER. Here are some key quotes.

Christmas wishes? “From the three kings I ask for titles and goals for Barca, and health for me and my family.”

Titles: “We want as many titles as possible, but we want La Liga. We have fluid conversations with Xavi, we speak about everything. We are focused on winning the league, that’s the prime objective and we had the team to do it.”

City signings: “We won’t pay 80 million for Bernardo Silva. Haaland? We’ll see how the Norwegian striker does at City. We have Lewandowski right now and that’s going very well.”

Salary cuts: “The players are incorporating themselves within some limits. That is allowing the club to stabilise and balance. We won’t do anything with the inherited contracts, we will respect them.”

Messi: I had to put Barca ahead of the best player in the history of football. They were moments of economic ruin and I could not keep him. I think it was the best for the club. Right now he’s a PSG player and I prefer not to speak about him. We’re focused on Barca. Leo will always form part of our badge and I would like that he had a different end than the one he did. There are various options, but I’d be making a mistake to say them. We have a relationship.”

Pique: “If he wants, he will be president of Barca in the future. Our relationship is excellent.”

1:1 ratio for signings: “In this moment to sign 1:1 we need 26 million of income. That’s the amount we lost by being knocked out of the Champions League. If we get to the Europa League final, for example, we’d get 21 million. Adding friendlies, we’d have it. We have recovered our prestige, there are investors, sponsors, and interested clubs who want to organise games with Barca. We will get to June with the chance to sign 1:1.”

Laporta also said Dembele, Ter Stegen and De Jong were not for sale and the socio model will not be touched, that Barcagate is in the hands of the authorities and that Alejandro Balde’s renewal is going well. The chief also said the start date for the European Super League would be 2025 if they get the court decision they crave.

The striker bagged a hat-trick in his team’s 4-3 Copa del Rey defeat by the Blaugrana on Wednesday

Oriol Soldevila, the Intercity forward, was man of the match against Barcelona in the Copa del Rey thriller on Wednesday.

He bagged a hat-trick against his old side and spoke after the game as the Catalans progressed.

“It was a dream for me,” said Solde. “I’ve been a Barca fan since I was born and you don’t even know what this means. With the first I was more than happy but with the three, even more so.”

He admitted that playing against Barca, in any moment “they can mess you up” and said that “we suffered but we played our game. It came out very well for us, but we knew what a great side we were facing and in any moment they could break what we had done.”

He said that he swapped shirts with Raphinha but he really wanted to get third choice goalkeeper Arnau Tenas’s.

“Arnau is my best friend in the world of football and now I will ask for his too,” he added.