One more to go: Barcelona summer clearout nears completion

At the beginning of the transfer window, Barcelona had a list of players that they wanted to get rid of this summer, with no two ways about it.

And it would be safe to say that with less than a week left before the window slams shut, the Catalans have been largely successful in their endeavours to offload the deadwood from the squad.

It all started with the permanent transfer of Philippe Coutinho to Aston Villa, followed by the exit of Francisco Trincao, who, after returning from loan at Wolves, joined Sporting CP in a loan-to-buy operation.

Soon, the Blaugrana were able to get rid of forgotten striker Rey Manaj, who joined Watford in a free transfer, with the club retaining a percentage of future sales. Clement Lenglet, too, moved to England, signing on loan for Tottenham Hotspur.

Ahead of the pre-season tour to the United States of America, Barcelona left behind five players to sort out their futures – Neto Murara, Riqui Puig, Oscar Mingueza, Samuel Umtiti and Martin Braithwaite.

Nearly two months later, four of the five exiled players are no longer at the club. Neto has joined AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League while Puig made a surprise move to the MLS, signing for LA Galaxy.

Mingueza, meanwhile, opted to stay closer to home, as he moved to La Liga club Celta Vigo. As for Umtiti, earlier today, the Frenchman completed a loan move to newly-promoted Serie A side Lecce.

Among the quintet of the out-of-favour stars, only Martin Braithwaite remains at Camp Nou. The Danish forward has been refusing to leave the club and has turned down approaches from teams.

However, he could now be open to an exit if Barça pay him €5 million as compensation to terminate his contract with the club. Cross that name off the list and the Blaugrana will have successfully managed to clear out the unwanted players from the squad.

There have been other departures as well – Nico Gonzalez joined Valencia on loan, Alex Collado moved to Elche on a temporary deal, Ferran Jugtla left for Club Brugge very early in the summer and forgotten defender Moussa Wague signed for HNK Gorica.

More exits could happen in the coming days purely borne out of necessity and circumstances rather than the players being deemed unwanted. Memphis Depay could still leave despite a move to Juventus falling through, while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is on the verge of joining Chelsea.

Sergino Dest is a name that has been linked of late with an exit after Xavi decided he does not trust him. But the USMNT ace was part of the pre-season and featured against Man City in the charity match on Wednesday. And if Barcelona do not sign a new right-back he might as well end up staying.

Frenkie de Jong is another player who was tipped for an exit. But the motives behind the club’s efforts to move him on were financial and not because he was deemed unwanted or surplus to requirements and he remains a part of Xavi’s plans.

So, neither Dest nor de Jong would not fall under the same category as Braithwaite & co. And should Barcelona be able to part ways with the Dane, ‘Mission: Squad Clearout’ would certainly be a success.