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Barcelona need to offload some players in order to afford priority target

By Chiranjib Ghosh

Matthijs de Ligt of Ajax during the Dutch Eredivisie match between De Graafschap Doetinchem and Ajax Amsterdam at De Vijverberg stadium on May 15, 2019 in Doetinchem, The Netherlands(Photo by VI Images via Getty Images)
Matthijs de Ligt of Ajax during the Dutch Eredivisie match between De Graafschap Doetinchem and Ajax Amsterdam at De Vijverberg stadium on May 15, 2019 in Doetinchem, The Netherlands(Photo by VI Images via Getty Images) /
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Barcelona will find it hard to sign Matthijs de Ligt

At one point, the deal taking Matthijs de Ligt to Barcelona was almost imminent. The negotiations had come to a conclusion, with only the details to be finalised. But the transfer did not go through then, and the Dutch youngster is asking for more money now.

As Barça failed to finalise the deal, other clubs have now entered the race, most of them with a bigger transfer kitty. Juventus have had interest in De Ligt for a long time, while Manchester City and Bayern Munich are also interested in signing the youngster now.

Mino Raiola, De Ligt’s agent, is known to be a clever negotiator. He engineered the deal taking Paul Pogba to Manchester United, maximising his own fees. The wily agent is trying to do the same with De Ligt, by attempting to find the best financial package available.

If Barça are to compete with the likes of Manchester City, a lot of space needs to be opened up in the club’s world-record wage bill. That means that Éric Abidal would need to replicate last summer’s performance in terms of profitable sales.

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Some players simply have to leave in order to accommodate De Ligt. The first such player is André Gomes, who is unlikely to return to Barça anyway. Denis Suárez also has to go. But most importantly, one key player also has to leave.

That could be either Ivan Rakitić, or Philippe Coutinho, or even both. In case both players leave, Barça need to find a high-profile replacement which would take up a lot of space on the wage bill. So, one big departure could be better with respect to De Ligt’s signing.

Backup goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen is also set to join Benfica, and his replacement is likely to be a player with a lower profile, like Benjamin Lecomte or Wuilker Faríñez. So, that will not affect the De Ligt deal. The only major signing which could harm the deal is Antoine Griezmann.

Despite going through a relatively poor last season with Atlético, the 28-year old French World Cup winner is still one of the best players in the world and would demand a huge salary. That could possibly be detrimental to Barça’s chance of bringing in De Ligt.

dark. Next. Piqué and Suárez don't want Griezmann at Barça

So, the club needs to weigh up its options. The choice seems to be between a short-term solution to the centre-forward issue and a very long-term solution to the centre-back issue.

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