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Future of several players to be decided this week

Ronald Koeman celebrates with Joan Laporta after winning the Copa del Rey final (Photo by CRISTINA QUICLER / AFP)
Ronald Koeman celebrates with Joan Laporta after winning the Copa del Rey final (Photo by CRISTINA QUICLER / AFP)

This week is decisive in terms of the departures or sales of this transfer window as the club aims to hold talks with the agents of players like Roberto, Umtiti, Lenglet, Firpo, and Alba.

Club President, Joan Laporta wants to do major changes in the squad, and in order to do so, letting some players go is necessary. According to Mundo Deportivo, the club will meet with the agents of players like Dembélé, Jordi Alba, Lenglet, Umtiti, and Firpo.

In the case of Sergi Roberto, whose contract expires in 2022, his agent says that there has been no contact with the club so far and a month ago, talks about extending his contracts were going on but, the situation has now changed.

Dembélé‘s situation is similar, he has a contract till 2022 and Barcelona wants to renew it. But if the player does not agree to the offer, he will be put on the transfer list immediately. The club suspects that he has a pre-agreement with Juventus but Barcelona’s intentions are clear; renew or sell immediately and if the player refuses both the options then a long season awaits him.

As for Umtiti, the club believes that he has been given plenty of opportunities since 2018, and he has failed to prove himself. Hence, the best option is to sell. On the other hand, Clement Lenglet is seen as a good team player by the club but his position in the squad is not assured. The need to balance sales and new arrivals places Lenglet in a situation open to almost everything. He will get sold if a good economic offer arrives or he could be included in a trade deal.

The club will also meet with Jordi Alba to talk about a reduction in salary. Messi lowering his salary will be one of the arguments that the club will use to convince him. He has a contract until 2024. There will also be a meeting with Junior Firpo‘s agents, where he will be asked to look for a way out. The former international Sub-21 has offers from Italy, with Milan as the club with the most interest in his services.

Other players such as Neto, Matheus Fernandez, and Pjanic are also on club’s list of deparures.