Getty Xavi has some decisions to make this summer.
Xavi Hernandez has five players he considers to be “expendable” at the Camp Nou currently and Barcelona will try to find exits for all in the January transfer window.
The new boss wants to rebuild a “decimated, unbalanced and misplaced squad” and outgoings are needed before new players can be signed because of the club’s difficult financial situation, as reported by Javier Miguel at Diario AS.
Right-back Sergino Dest is viewed as “totally expendable” by Xavi due to a lack of understanding about Barca’s positional play. The Catalans would be willing to sell for a fee in the region of €15 to €20 million in January.
Samuel Umtiti and Philippe Coutinho, who both continue to struggle for game time and have regularly been linked with Camp Nou exits, and are also on the list, along with attackers Yusuf Demir and Luuk de Jong.
Demir only arrived on loan in the summer from Rapid Vienna but has a clause in his contract which means Barca would have to pay the Austrian side an extra €10m if he plays 10 games for the first team. Barca don’t want to have to activate that clause which makes a winter exit the most likely option.
De Jong also arrived in the summer on loan from Sevilla, and Xavi is happy with his professionalism but the Dutchman is simply “not the striker that Barcelona need.” Barca B striker Ferran Jutgla started ahead of De Jong against Elche which speaks volumes and suggests his loan could be cut short.
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Xavi Talks Sergino Dest
Xavi spoke about Dest ahead of Barcelona’s final La Liga game of 2021 at Sevilla on Tuesday, December 21. The coach told a pre-match press conference that the only reason Dest has not featured much since he took over was because of physical issues.
“His problem is physical, otherwise we would have used him more. He has had severe low back pain, now his adductors have overloaded,” he said. “It’s not a mental or football issue, but he is not well, he is not ready to play. It is a physical problem, nothing more.”
Xavi’s words come amid speculation Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich could renew their interest in the USMNT star. Barca pipped Bayern to Dest when they signed the defender from Ajax in October 2020 for a reported fee of €21 million plus a potential €5m in add-ons.
Dest is “not thinking” about leaving Barca in January, according to Mundo Deportivo. However, he may struggle for game time in 2021 with Dani Alves available to play after arriving on a free transfer in November.
Barcelona Struggling to Offload Umtiti?
One player who Barcelona may find difficult to offload is Umtiti. An agent working for the Catalans recently “met a ‘middle class’ European club” and mentioned Umtiti as a possible transfer, as reported by Ivan San Antonio at Diario Sport.
The suggestion was initially met with “silence” and the agent was then “asked if this was a joke.” The report adds that Umtiti’s name, unsurprisingly, did not crop up again in transfer discussions.
Umtiti’s only minutes so far this season have come in a 2-2 draw against Osasuna. The defender has fallen way down the pecking order since winning the 2018 World Cup with France and has never recovered his best form since suffering a serious knee injury.
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good luck offloading the sick, lame and lazy every team knows what they are and won’t pay for them, cut them loose and be done !