‘Impossible’ for Barcelona to sign new players without exits – Gerard Romero

The reliable Gerard Romero has issued a truth hammer on Barcelona’s remaining potential final quarter of the summer transfer window.

The Spanish journalist claims that while the club remains interested in several players to reinforce their team, they cannot, in fact, sign players unless they sanction some exits.

In the recent past, Barcelona have made their way into links with Javi Galan, Marcos Alonso, and, more recently, Hamari Traore as options for the left-back slot. However, Xavi nearly dusted all these rumours today, suggesting they were ‘well covered’ there with Jordi Alba and Alejandro Balde.

On the contrary, though, the Spaniard sounded concerned about the lack of a natural right-back at the club.

“Looking at Balde’s projection, it seems that we have a well-covered position. On the right, we don’t have a natural player beyond Dest, who already knows what his situation is. We will see how the market develops, but we do want to further strengthen that position,” Xavi stated.

Juan Foyth remains Barcelona’s priority for that role, but his transfer fee could be a huge problem. His release clause of €42 million is set to hike to over €54 million this week, making matters worse.

Hector Bellerin is the other player linked to the Catalans. He dreams of playing in Spain, and would, ideally, arrive on a free transfer, but his salary would be considerably higher than Foyth.

Further, it seems the Arsenal man is prioritising a move to Real Betis. Unfortunately for him, though, Manuel Pellegrini’s side are undergoing a ton of financial/registration problems, and have to be patient before moving for more players in the market.

All these players will remain nothing but targets for Barça if they cannot offload anyone. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the prime candidate to leave right now. Chelsea are closing in on his transfer, but the two parties remain far apart on a transfer valuation.

Memphis Depay was another player continually linked with an exit, but his move to Juventus has collapsed, according to reports. Manchester United are interested in his services, but no official approach has been made.