“We are not negotiating with Manchester United to sell them Dembélé” (Albert Nadal)

Sergiño Dest already speaks as a Barça player. The footballer from the United States has landed at the Barça club in exchange for 21 million euros plus five in variables, an amount that the entity has agreed to pay in installments with Ajax – with whom the club has good relations, especially with the its sporting director, the former Barça player Marc Overmars–. Barça’s coffers, already plagued by the millionaire operations of recent years and high salaries and punished by the pandemic, explain, in large part, why the club must resort to this type of financial formula to be able to incorporate new players before closing of the transfer market, Monday.

The priorities are to incorporate a center-back (the chosen one is the ex-Barça player Eric García, who has one year left on his contract at Manchester City) and a striker who can occupy the position of new, where Ronald Koeman would like to incorporate Dutchman Olympique de Lyon’s Memphis Depay, despite not being a pure center forward. To tackle the two operations, however, Barça would first need to close even more exits due to a treasury issue: it is necessary to release too much salary. Todibo, Rafinha, Umtiti and even Dembélé are the main names with which the club could try to make money.

Each operation has its own particularities, and that of Ousmane Dembélé is what would allow the club to collect more transfers. The French winger, who is starting his fourth year at Barça after three years marked by repeated injuries, is in the retina of Manchester United, although he is not the first priority of the English team, but a bullet in the chamber if the red devils they cannot concretize the transfer of the young star of the Borussia Dortmund Jadon Sancho. The Frenchman was already on the verge of a possible exchange with Juventus in an operation (which combined the so-called “financial engineering” and the desire to incorporate Pjanic) that finally settled with Arthur marching towards Turin. Then the footballer’s agent, Moussa Sissoko, stepped in, saying that he did not believe that his representative would leave Barça, but lowering his tone with respect to what he had shown the previous summer, when he stated that the Frenchman would continue to ”To the club.

This time the one who has been the most demanding has been Barça’s technical secretary, Ramon Planes from Lleida. “There are no ongoing negotiations with Manchester United to sell them the Ousmane. We have him and we hope to enjoy all his football qualities and arguments, which he has “, he said this Friday during the presentation of Dest. Planes is aware of the economic difficulties posed by this football market, which he has described as “the most complicated” in recent years, but has denied that for a new addition the club needs to first get rid of one of its players.

Despite Barça’s official position, strategic in order not to lower Dembélé’s market price, the club would welcome a good offer (around 50 million euros or more) to transfer it, as it would fit with economic line of the entity to release high salaries and also in this case to be able to make cash. Added to this is the fact that the Frenchman is no longer the first sword in Koeman’s Barça attack, as he has seen how they have played against players such as Ansu Fati (in a state of grace) or Trincao (more committed). in defensive tasks).

“We have a good squad, young people have arrived and we have competed very well in these first two games. Obviously there are points we can reinforce. We are working with the master and we will do it until the last moment. The team has shown that it is working offensively, although it is true that in the central position we go a little more needs. Whatever may come, if it can come, may really help us. We will not sign anyone just for the sake of incorporating someone. We need to be consistent. In a short time, a new market window will open “, explained the technical secretary.

Todibo, on the exit ramp

One of the next outings that Barça could close soon is the French center Jean-Clair Todibo, with a good poster in European football for his youth (20 years) and projection. Barça expect to make money with his transfer, which could move in a range of between 10 and 15 million euros. “He is in different options in the European market. He has a lot of potential and he has more than one (and two) suitors who are very interested in him. The player has also stated that he wants to have more minutes and the best start seems to accept some of the proposals that allow him to continue growing as a footballer having more minutes than he could have here “, explained Planes.

Samuel Umtiti is still in charge of Barça, for whom there are not many offers due to his high profile (he has a contract with Barça until 2023) and his dubious state of form and performance in recent years. The footballer, on the other hand, is comfortable in Barcelona and would have no problem staying. “We are looking for the best solution for the player and for the club. The club is by his side. We have a lot of respect for him and his career. We are looking for the best joint decision in a very complicated market,” said the technical secretary. about a footballer who doesn’t count for Ronald Koeman.

Dest, “the profile to follow”

The words of the president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, are left behind, when, after the defeat of Lisbon, he placed Nélson Semedo as “non-transferable”, to end up selling him to Wolverhampton in the Premier League in exchange for 30 million euros more 10 in variables. In his place has arrived Sergiño Dest, a 19-year-old footballer who has not stopped showing a shy but transparent smile since he landed in Barcelona. “Dani Alves is my role model. I want to look like him,” he said in his first appearance as a Barça player. This Friday he will meet Messi: “It’s amazing to be able to play alongside him. I’m very excited.” Dest also praised Sergi Roberto and his new team-mates: “He is a very good player. I hope to learn a lot from him. In fact, I hope to learn a lot from all these great players at Barça.”

For his part, Ramon Planes congratulated himself on being able to close this operation. “Dest is a very good player who comes to complete the squad in a position we wanted to strengthen, such as the right winger. We have been struggling with very important teams [com el Bayern de Munic] to sign him and I want to thank him for choosing us. He is a footballer full of future, raised in the Ajax school, with an offensive vocation and we have no doubt that, having trained in a squad with a DNA very similar to ours, he will soon adapt. It embodies the type of signings we want to make “.