The 4 Players Barcelona Are Looking to Sell in January

Barcelona are keen on stripping more deadwood from the squad and have made four first-team players available for transfer in January, in addition to home-grown players who could be allowed to leave on loan in search of game time.

The second half of last season was a disaster for Barça that has spilled into 2020/21, with the club sat eighth in La Liga, and the necessary squad rebuild is still only really getting started.

SPORT explains that trimming players who are surplus to requirement in January will create the necessary room for two new signings to improve the team, plus more graduates from La Masia.

It is said that Barcelona are actively ‘working’ on selling Samuel Umtiti, Junior Firpo, Martin Braithwaite and Matheus Fernandes in the upcoming winter transfer window.

Of that quartet, Firpo is the player billed as closest to leaving. The 24-year-old left-back, who has spent most of the season on the bench and played just 29 minutes, is believed to have ‘several’ offers from Serie A clubs – including Inter and Napoli.

It is possible a deal could begin as a loan and include an option to buy, although Barça are refusing to accept less than €20m, given that they paid an initial €18m when he arrived in 2019 and former club Real Betis are entitled to a percentage of any sell-on fee.

Umtiti, yet to play in 2020/21 after missing the end of last season with more knee trouble, is said to at least be open to a loan in a bid to recapture his fitness.

Braithwaite is determined not to leave because he still apparently believes he will get chances, even though Barça’s intention was to quickly sell him on during the summer, only for the coronavirus pandemic to obliterate the market and kill any chances of a deal.

Fernandes, bought from Palmeiras in January, is another fringe player with no prospects at Camp Nou. But it is said the club are concerned the Brazilian is being poorly advised because his representatives rejected a loan move amid interest from Monaco in summer.

In addition to openly listening to offers for Firpo, Umtiti, Braithwaite and Fernandes, Barca are also tipped to send Carles Alena and Riqui Puig out on loan if there are suitable proposals.

Alena, due to turn 23 in January, was handed the club’s iconic number six shirt made famous by Xavi ahead of this season and was expected to make a breakthrough after an impressive loan spell at Real Betis in the latter half of the 2019/20 campaign.

But Alena has struggled to get off the bench. He has been an unused substitute for all nine La Liga games so far and has played just seven minutes in the Champions League.

It has been a similar story for Puig, whose only first-team appearance this season was a late three-minute cameo in the 1-0 defeat to Getafe in October. This is after he was a regular in the side in the closing stages of last season in June and July.

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