Do you remember when the Spanish press announced that FC Barcelona would recruit Lautaro Martinez and Neymar during the summer transfer window? We knew how to laugh at the time. For weeks in fact, before Lionel Messi came to upset everything by announcing his desire to leave, the Catalan club broadcast huge ambitions through its usual channels. It was necessary to prepare the succession of Luis Suarez by recruiting Lautaro Martinez and to constitute a new trio of anthology. But on Tuesday, September 6, the finding is clear: only Miralem Pjanic (in an abnormally encrypted exchange with Juventus and Arthur) and Sergiño Dest (to replace Nelson Semedo, sold to Wolverhampton) came to strengthen the Blaugrana ranks.
Could Barça hope for better? The club lost the trifle of € 200 million with the health crisis linked to the coronavirus epidemic. Far from the initial objectives, management has set about reducing the wage bill, while forcibly retaining Lionel Messi, ready to leave the ship. Barça wanted a strong competitor for Luis Suarez? He finally pushed him towards the exit. Same fate for Ivan Rakitic and Arturo Vidal, who weighed on the club’s finances. It was necessary to find money at all costs to amortize the losses as much as possible and especially to finance the arrivals, while the Spanish League could not validate the expenses because of the abyssal debt presented.
Strangely managed cases
Unfortunately, some unwanted people did not accept their fate. This was the case with Samuel Umtiti, clearly pushed out, and once again with Ousmane Dembélé. The French winger is probably the best lawyer in Ligue 1 since his non-departure from Barça helped to retain Neymar (in 2019) and Depay (in 2020) in our championship. Once again, Barça put the pressure on. Last year, he included him in exchange attempts with PSG. This time, he was ready to sell it to Manchester United against a check of between 50 and 60 M €, to finance the continuation and end of his summer transfer window. But football is not (yet) the NBA, the leaders have remained with their mouths in the water.
Barca were therefore unable to recruit the two players they were targeting during the last weeks of the transfer window, namely central defender Eric Garcia and striker Memphis Depay. For these two men, an offer of 20 M € was enough, but the Catalan club was simply unable to do so. So here they are with gaps in these two areas of the game, even if of course everything must be qualified. With Pique, Lenglet, Umtiti and Araujo for 2 places, Ronald Koeman is not helpless, while Griezmann, Messi or even Braithwaite can share the role of central striker. Still, the management of this summer transfer window will be reproached to Josep Maria Bartomeu, like the final sale, that of Rafinha to PSG. Celta Vigo, where he was on loan last season, made an offer of € 13m postponed at the start of the transfer window, the Azulgranas claiming € 16m. He finally went free, with only bonuses up to € 3 million and a percentage of 35% on resale.
