Barcelona prepared for a busy offseason in the transfer market.
After firing manager Quique Setien and finalizing a deal with Ronald Koeman to take over, the next item on Barcelona’s list is the selling of players.
The club are on the verge of having a fire sale putting plenty of teams around Europe on notice. At least one is already preparing a list.
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According to Mundo Deportivo, Manchester United are interested in signing up to four Barcelona players this summer. Those names include Ivan Rakitic, Arturo Vidal, Samuel Umtiti and Ousmane Dembele.
The report claims that Rakitic has already informed United that he has no interest in joining them. The Croatian midfielder had also been linked with a move to Arsenal but his desire, should he leave, is to go back to Sevilla.
With regards to Vidal, the English side would only consider a possible swap deal given his age.
The interest in Umtiti is a new development but with questions surrounding Victor Lindelof as well as Eric Bailly, United are looking for someone to partner alongside Harry Maguire.
Barcelona have made it known to the French defender that his services are no longer required. The biggest hurdle towards a possible deal is his health. He has a history of injuries and was out with an injury the last month of the season.
The Dembele interest is nothing new. United have moved on to him because they were unsuccessful in their bid to sign Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund. Out of all the players, he’s the one that would likely bring back the most amount of money.
Nothin is likely to happen until the new manager takes over.
One of the key responsibilities for whoever takes over as manager is managing the clear out. The Catalans only consider a handful of players as non-negotiable meaning the rest of the squad is up for grabs.
However, the final decision should be left up to Koeman once his appointment is made official. He is going to want to have a hand in building the squad so he is going to have a say in who goes and who stays.
But out of those four names linked with Manchester United, the only player that might figure into his plans is Dembele given that he is still young and offers something in attack that Barcelona do not have at the moment.
The other three were already likely headed out of the club even before the loss to Bayern Munich.
What all four have in common is that they are all on high wages. Barcelona have one of the highest wage bills in Europe and trimming that down goes hand-in-hand with selling some of the veteran players.
It is still too early to see how much change Barcelona are going to go through. But with the new La Liga season starting up soon, they’re quickly running out of time.