FC Barcelona were offered Bayern Munich star in the summer

On the 21st of October, FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta will be presenting a financial overview and despite the early optimism, chances are it won’t look great.

Barca is still neck-deep in debt and will need to continue their shrewd signings for at least another team.

The La Liga champions were only able to spend money on one permanent signing, and that was a small sum for Oriol Romeu, who after starting well is currently going through a difficult patch of form.

When you remove Frenkie de Jong from that midfield, the other players tend to struggle. Unfortunately for Barca, they’ll be without the Dutchman for a few more weeks yet.

According to ESPN, Barcelona were given the opportunity to sign one of Bayern’s biggest names this summer, but financially they were severely restricted and unable to facilitate the deal, despite Kimmich being admired by Barca manager Xavi.

"“Sources told ESPN that Joshua Kimmich was also offered to Barça in the summer. The Catalan club could not afford a deal at the time but continue to monitor the Germán midfielder’s situation in the belief Bayern Munich could negotiate a transfer at the end of the campaign with his contract expiring in 2025.Xavi is a big fan of Kimmich, with Arsenal’s Jorginho, Liverpool’s Thiago Alcantara and Real Betis’ Guido Rodríguez some of the other names on the table.”"

Financial difficulty prevented the signing of Kimmich this summer

Kimmich has played a key role for Bayern so far this year, forming a midfielder partnership with Leon Goretzka, the German international is the centre of the Bayern universe.

Most of the play goes through him and he’ll often drop deep to pick up the ball before playing between the lines.

In many ways, his game is very similar to that of De Jong, creative players who can do a little bit of everything.

Bayern manager Thomas Tuchel spoke this summer about how he saw Kimmich as more of a #8 and I find it hard to disagree with that sentiment, he’s doesn’t have the defensive capability of an elite #6, but he certainly possesses more style.

Kimmich would have made an elite partner to De Jong, but considering the financial limitations I’m not overly surprised that a deal was never concluded.

It does surprise me to hear that Kimmich was on the table considering how important he is to Bayern Munich and how entrenched he is there.