New Barça coach Flick to raid Liverpool for two stars
Barcelona have parted ways with their coach and it looks almost certain that the former Bayern Munich and Germany manager will be taking the reins at Camp Nou.
Flick has a lot to do if he is to revive the Blaugrana as they come off a campaign in which they have been second best by a long way to Real Madrid and are now dealing with the news that the man who only a month ago seemed secure in his job, is now gone.
In particular, the German will have to look hard at a first-team squad which has many ageing and underperforming players.
Some of them are well over thirty and so probably only have two or three seasons at most where they can be expected to perform at the level they have done previously.
Eventually, those players will need to be replaced but of Barcelona are strapped for cash and will struggle to compete at the top end of the transfer market as they usually do.
Interestingly, the Blaugrana are being strongly linked by a Spanish media outlet with a double swoop on Premier League giants Liverpool in the upcoming transfer window.
Both Reds stars Thiago and Luis Díaz are supposedly very much on the Catalan's radar this summer were Flick to take the job.
Liverpool are, like Barcelona, starting a new era with their manager since 2015, Jürgen Klopp, having left the club after this season to be replaced by Dutchman Arne Slot.
And the two clubs have some recent past history of high-profile transfers with Philippe Coutinho having left Anfield for the Camp Nou for a huge fee in January 2018.
Thiago and Columbian Díaz are it seems for different reasons, likely to leave Merseyside this summer.
Thiago's contract is up and he would allegedly join the Blaugrana as a player-coach while Díaz hasn't been the consistent success hoped for at Liverpool and so could well be surplus to requirements under the new coach.
He could be involved in a swap deal with Raphina moving on to fund it. He could possibly come back to England where he has previously played for Leeds United in the Premier League.
We will see if either of these players does actually join Barça or if it is just more speculation. No doubt they will be the first of many transfer rumours regarding the Catalan club with the window opening very soon.