With the transfer market around the corner, Barcelona are among many clubs planning their moves ahead of the summer, with several names on the table.
Barcelona have several players that could be on the chopping block come the summer transfer window, with some returning from loan, and others looking to move on.
The club has loaned out several players, who are set to return in the off-season.
In fact, the list includes players like Philippe Coutinho (Bayern Munich), Moussa Wagué (OGC Nice), Carles Aleñá (Betis), Rafinha (Celta), Juan Miranda and Jean-Clair Todibo (Schalke), as well as Oriol Busquets (FC Twente).
Meanwhile, Marc Cucurella was loaned out to Getafe with an option to buy for 6 million euros. The team from the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez plan on executing that clause, according to L’Esportiu, with Barça not having included a buy-back clause in the move.
Emerson de Souza was signed by Barcelona and Real Betis jointly, and is set to join Barça in 2021, although there has been talk about him joining the club prematurely, this summer. The player himself has said that he feels ready. Per the same report from L’Esportiu, the player could join Barça to either stay permanently, despite him then occupying a non-EU spot, or be included as part of a player exchange deal in the off-season.
Barcelona’s Turkish wide midfielder, Arda Turan, had his loan spell with Istanbul Basaksehir prematurely ended. While he, technically, still is in Barcelona’s ranks, the player’s contract runs out in the summer, and it is unlikely to see the club renewing with Turan.
The situation is a bit different for Barcelona’s youngsters.
Carles Aleñá is set to return to the Camp Nou, according to the same report from L’Esportiu, with the club waiting for him to accept the challenge of fighting for a spot under the reigns of Quique Setién, as they count on the young midfielder.
Rafinha is currently on loan with Celta Vigo, and although a buy option was not included in the deal that sent him to Vigo, he would like to continue with Óscar García’s men.
Oriol Busquets has been on loan with FC Twente, where he has featured in midfield but also as a centre-back. He has previously stated that he wants to come back to Barcelona and fight for a spot. No purchase clause was included in the loan deal that sent him to the Eredivisie, and with his loan spell coming to an end this summer, he will return to the Camp Nou for the time being. Should he want to move on, even temporarily, he will, however, not be short of suitors.
Jean-Clair Todibo and Juan Miranda have both been loaned out to Schalke, with the former having had a better spell than the latter. While Todibo has been key for Schalke, and even won the club award for the best player of the month of February, Juan Miranda has only featured in 4 Bundesliga games this season.
A buyout clause was included in Todibo’s loan move, but with Schalke admitting that it seems very difficult for the Germans to afford to pay his clause, the French defender will look to return to Barça. As for the Catalans, they do not discard him staying with the club, as a fourth option in the heart of defense, but selling him on is also an option, per L’Esportiu.
Moussa Wagué has been loaned out to French side OGC Nice, and has barely played for the Ligue 1 side. Although a buyout clause of 10 million euros was included, it seems rather unlikely that they would make use of the option to buy the young defender. According to the aforementioned report, it is likely that he returns to Barça to then leave the club in a different deal.
Philippe Coutinho‘s future remains in the air. The Brazilian is liked by Barça’s newly appointed manager, Quique Setién, and could feature in the midfield under the Cantabrian who would like to rediscover Coutinho’s best form. The Brazilian is reportedly willing to try his luck in Catalonia once more and start from scratch, but the club is, per multiple reports from Spain, looking for a way out for the Brazilian with multiple Premier League clubs as potential destinations.
His loan spell with Bayern had a good start to it, but looks like it will have a somewhat bitter end. With him having lost prominence in Hans Flick’s side, it looks improbable that Bayern Munich will execute their buy option of 125 million euros on the Brazilian, and even more so following the current coronavirus pandemic.
Although the Spanish league was brought to a hold, a three phase plan for Spain’s recovery from the pandemic will see footballers return to action very soon.
