Three Barcelona midfielders could leave the club in the summer after Kessie’s arrival

Barcelona have all but confirmed the arrival of Franck Kessie from AC Milan on a free transfer in the summer. The move has already received Fabrizio Romano’s ‘here we go’ and at this point, is close to being made official.

The midfielder arrives into a team with an already packed midfield. With Sergio Busquets the only defensive midfielder, there are could be as many as eight central midfielders competing for two spots next season.

However, according to a report from Cuatro, three midfielders could be on their way out of the team after the arrival of Kessie: Riqui Puig, Miralem Pjanic, and Sergi Roberto.

Puig

Puig has been escaping an exit from Barcelona for several transfer windows running now. He was first sidelined from the team by Ronald Koeman and has been out of favour under Xavi as well.

However, it seems he is finally fed up with his situation and is willing to walk out of the team by this summer. The youngster has been linked to Napoli recently, but could field more offers once the transfer window swings open.

Wolverhampton Wanderers are said to be interested as well, and the player could be involved in a swap deal that sees Adama Traore stay at Barcelona on a permanent basis.

Pjanic

Currently, on loan at Besiktas, Pjanic’s spell at Barcelona has not lived up to the billing it was expected to. He was discarded from the team by Koeman, who preferred to use a trio of Frenkie de Jong, Pedri, and Busquets.

That said, the Bosnian has played well in Turkey – in the time he’s not been injured, anyway. In 16 games, he has assisted twice, while creating 2.5 chances per game. Most recently, he was red-carded vs Antalyaspor in early February.

Roberto

Barely a midfielder at this point, Roberto could leave Barcelona on a free transfer in the summer. The club does not intend to offer him a new contract, and instead will prioritise Gavi and Ronald Araujo’s renewals instead.

The 30-year-old has fielded strong links from Atletico Madrid, which seems like the likeliest option right now. Arsenal were said to be interested, but there have been little to no updates on that end for a while now.