
Barcelona manager Xavi could ask the club to offload goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, right-back Sergino Dest and midfielder Frenkie de Jong after watching his side bow out of the Champions League group stage.
Xavi’s return to Camp Nou is yet to have the desired impact and he had to watch on as his side failed to score against both Benfica and Bayern Munich, the latter of whom secured a comfortable 3-0 victory on Wednesday to send Barcelona tumbling into the Europa League.
Att1...
On top of that, Barcelona sit seventh in La Liga, having clearly fallen well below their lofty standards this year, and Xavi revealed after the game that he was ready to usher in a new era and start from scratch.
Journalist Gerard Romero claims that offers will be entertained for Ter Stegen, who was widely seen as one of the best goalkeepers on the planet just a few years ago. The German has struggled greatly for a while now and the belief is that Xavi has seen enough.
Newcastle United were speculatively linked with Ter Stegen recently, but he should field plenty of offers from sides in European competitions if he does hit the market.
Xavi is also open to seeing De Jong leave the club. One of the more underwhelming players of the campaign, the 24-year-old has looked nothing like the player he was tipped to be when he joined the club for €75m in 2019 and could be one of those added to the transfer list.
De Jong could be joined at the exit door by another former Ajax man, with right-back Dest also potentially facing an uncertain future at Camp Nou just 18 months after joining the club.
Dest saw 45 minutes on the wing against Bayern in the Champions League this week and the suggestion is that Xavi does not rate him as a defender. Centre-back Ronald Araujo was used at right-back on Wednesday, with the boss reluctant to give Dest minutes in his actual position.
Reports have linked the United States international with a switch to Bayern Munich, although there isn’t much substance to them just yet. Xavi hopes to raise significant funds to pursue his squad rebuild, with Manchester City forward Ferran Torres one of his top priorities.
Torres has agreed personal terms with Barcelona, but 90min understands that City are undecided over whether to sell him. Should they decide to offload Torres, City’s asking price of over £60m would only be attainable if Barcelona made some significant sales.
Recent Comments