Barcelona midfield target has a €20 million release clause, club cannot afford to pay

Journalist Gabriel Sans has reported via Mundo Deportivo that Barcelona have received confirmation with regards to Aleix Garcia’s release clause and if they tend to go ahead with his acquisition, they must pay €20 million, something that the team from Catalonia cannot afford right now.

It was only yesterday that we reported how keenly Deco and Xavi are working on signing a new player in the winter. Owing to the season-ending injury to Gavi, the team desperately needs a midfielder and 26-year-old Garcia seems to be topping their list.

As reported earlier, Xavi’s idea is to have a midfielder who can guard the defensive line and someone who can intercept the opponent’s play without much of a hustle. This is where Garcia comes into the picture.

Now, Barcelona believed that Garcia’s release clause was much lower than €20 million – somewhere around the €12 million mark.

But the aforementioned outlet has now refuted the claim, adding that Girona will not budge from the clause and sadly for Barcelona, they cannot afford to go ahead with the signing, owing to Financial Fair Play issue.

Barcelona exploring other avenues

Time is running out for Barcelona and they must act quickly if they are serious about Garcia, something that Xavi indeed is.

At the same time, though, Barcelona are also considering various options, depending on the financial constraints imposed by ‘fair play.’

It is said that Deco, the sports director, and Xavi will have a technical meeting in Saudi Arabia, possibly with the participation of Barça president Joan Laporta and sports vice president Rafa Yuste, depending on their schedules, to discuss all transfer possibilities.

For Garcia, Barcelona might even consider a loan, but Girona is firm in rejecting such an arrangement for their midfielder. Despite expressing interest in joining Barça, Míchel, Girona’s coach, has doubts about letting his player leave.

Meanwhile, it is to be noted that Garcia is not the only midfielder the club is interested in. However, other potential candidates hinge on financial considerations.