The “poisoned” inheritance that he bequeathed Joseph Maria Bartomeu a Joan Laporta It was not only an economic chaos so deep that Barça was in a situation of “technical bankruptcy & rdquor; but the sports planning turned out to be a real disaster. Players who should have been strategic in the reconstruction of the squad, who have not exercised that function, with a pre-pandemic salary that is also unaffordable now after the crisis that has shaken football due to the coronavirus.
Coutinho, Dembele Y Frankie de Jong They are the faces of this very serious problem (the Brazilian, on loan to Aston Villa, is the most expensive signing in the club’s history; the French, the third; the Dutch, the fifth), which has not generated the expected return on that investment which is above 300 million euros, only in their contracts, without counting their crack salaries.
A Dembele Barça already looked for a door for him to leave in the last winter market, but he did not get away with it. He forced the maximum, urging him to leave the Camp Nou. But he did not achieve his purpose, while Xavi, needed to “refloat” Barça, It has transformed it into a capital piece of its offensive structure, insisting, time and time again, on its renewal.
Xavi pushes for Dembélé
The contract ends on June 30, being the owner of his future since January. But there is no agreement to seal his continuity after a couple of meetings between the forward’s agents and Mateu Germanydirector of football, and Jordi Cruyff, whom Xavi he always qualifies as “technical secretary”, even if he does not officially hold that position.
One of those contacts took place in Marrakesh. But the agreement does not come, no matter how much the Barca coach insists. “I have already said many times that Ousmane is capable of making a difference”, repeated Xavi after the victory over Celta (3-1). “In football, it’s not just whoever scores a goal that makes the difference. Many times it’s done with an assist,” the coach stressed.
“I have already said many times that Ousmane is capable of making a difference. He is special, he is different”
Xavi, Barça coach
Dembele He has only one goal in the League, but he is, curiously, the highest assister in the championship, with 13, surpassing Benzema (11 and Jordi Alba (10). “It’s special, it’s different,” said Xavi. For this reason, he wants to have him by his side, forcing Barça to look for imaginative formulas to renew him when in January he was urged to leave, but always reducing his salary, no matter how much one of his agents has claimed a renewal bonus, something that the club cannot assume.
Dembelein his fifth and final year of contract, has found Xavi the sporting stability that he was looking for, but without yet being the determining and decisive piece that the team requires, especially in year one without Messi.
United want Frenkie
In the same scenario is Frankie de Jong, whom Bartomeu signed in January 2019 overcoming interest from Manchester City and Paris SG. He paid 75 million euros plus 11 in variables to Ajax. Now, the Dutch player, who turned 25 this Thursday, is the best economic asset that Barça has to find liquidity in the market.
After three seasons at the Camp Nou, the Dutchman has not managed to establish himself as untouchable and his market value, located at 70 million euros, remains unchanged
Despite the fact that in his three seasons at the Camp Nou in which he has had up to five coaches (Valverde, Setien, koemanthe interim SergioY Xavi) has not managed to settle, remains attractive in European football. His performance as a Barça player has been irregular, neither shining as an attacking midfielder nor being a solid alternative as a replacement for Busquets.
But its market value remains unchanged, around 70 million euros, which would be one of the biggest sales in the club’s history. The new Manchester United that is creating Erik ten Haghis former coach at Ajax, whom he has just made champion in the Netherlands again (it is the third consecutive Eredivisie), is emerging as the great candidate to welcome Frenkie de Jong, although it would mean a serious setback in his career because he will not participate in the next edition of the Champions League.
The club needs liquidity for the reconstruction, based, for the moment, on austerity as revealed by the arrivals of Christensen (Chelsea) and Kessié (Milan) at zero cost
It is the window, or “economic lever”, in the jargon of laportasimpler and more direct than Barça has left to earn money, despite the fact that Xavi maintains that the Dutchman “is a top footballer, who can mark a decade.” But the need is pressing.
Lighten wage mass
After three years, there is no more room to wait, while the club is looking for cheaper options (Carlos Soler, the Valencia midfielder, his contract ends in 2023, so he could leave this summer for an ‘affordable’ amount), with salaries far from stars (Dembele, Frenkie and Coutinho) who have not performed as stars.
Aston Villa remains Coutinho’s property
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The Brazilian wants to stay in the Premier, the only league where he has felt happy. And Barça to get rid of his file, the highest in the squad after Messi’s departure and the transfer of Griezmann to Atlético, he is also willing to facilitate his departure for 20 million euros to Aston Villa, the club that opened the doors of England to him last January thanks to the insistence of his coach Steven Gerrard, his former partner in Liverpool.
The operation is now official. Barça receives 20 million for a player who cost them 120 + 40 in variables four and a half years ago. The Barça club has gotten rid of him to save his very high record and be able to make money for the next fair play, which the League sets for him. the only and last fine thread that unites him with Coutinho is that Laporta’s board reserves “50% of a future capital gain” in case of sale of the Brazilian