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Barcelona president Joan Laporta has promised fans the club will try to strengthen the first-team in January following the club’s disappointing early exit from the Champions League.
Laporta posted a video on social media on Friday, December 10 where he told supporters that the club is working hard to try and improve the team despite the Catalans’ ongoing financial difficulties.
“Hello culers. I also feel very disappointed by the elimination of the Champions League. We all agree that we have to strengthen the first team. The problem is that we have inherited very high contracts of the first team, which don’t give us salary margin,” he said. “Even so we are looking for formulas to improve the first team during the winter transfer market. We are working very hard to achieve it. And we will. Right now I ask you to row in the same direction for Barca. Thank you and long live Barca.”
Barcelona have endured a tough start to the 2021-22 campaign that has seen the team dumped out of Europe’s top competition at the group stages and currently sitting down in seventh place in the table in Spain.
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Barcelona To Offload Players First?
Laporta has previously said Barcelona must sell before they can buy in order to raise funds and make room on the wage bill. Players such as Samuel Umtiti and Philippe Coutinho are regularly linked with a Camp Nou exit but may be difficult to sell as they are struggling to make any impact at the Camp Nou.
USMNT star Sergino Dest is one player who could be an attractive target for other clubs and is also finding game time hard to come by under Xavi. The full-back was taken off at half-time of Barca’s 3-0 defeat to Bayern Munich and the club is reportedly willing to listen to offers for the defender.
Juan Jimenez at Diario AS has also reported that key players such as midfielder Frenkie de Jong and goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen are also no longer considered to be “untouchable.”
Who Could Barcelona Sign in January?
Even if Barcelona can sell players in January they may only be able to bring in players on loan or at a low-cost in the next transfer window. One player who continues to be linked with a move to the Camp Nou is Manchester United’s Edinson Cavani.
The option of signing Cavani is “gaining weight” in the Barcelona board room “as long as it can be done at low-cost,” as reported by Diario Sport. Cavani is into the final year of his contract at Manchester United but believes he can still play at the top level for two more season.
Barcelona also continue to be linked with a move for Manchester City’s Ferran Torres, but may struggle to agree a deal as the Premier League champions reportedly want at least €60 million for the 21-year-old.
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