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Three players Barcelona will try to offload in January

It could be a busy January transfer window for Barcelona with the club hopeful of landing a couple of new faces with newly appointed Xavi set to execute his authority.

Three players Barcas trying to let go

Bengaluru, Dec. 2: It could be a busy January transfer window for Barcelona with the club hopeful of landing a couple of new faces with newly appointed Xavi set to execute his authority.

The Barcelona legend is intent on rebuilding his squad. But with the Spanish giants still going through a tough time financially, they need to sell more first-team players first.

The Barca management is keen on stripping more deadwood from the squad. Hence, if recent reports are to be believed at least three first-team players are likely to be available for transfer in January, in addition to home-grown players who could be allowed to leave on loan in search of game time.

These are the three players that Laporta and co. could offload in the January transfer window:

1. Philippe Coutinho

After growing into one of the best midfielders in the world at Liverpool, the Brazilian joined Barcelona as their costliest signing in a £142million deal in January 2018. But he never really got going at Barcelona and always seemed to struggle for either form or fitness.

After spending on loan at Bayern in 2019-20 he was largely unused last season. Barcelona tried to offload him in the summer but could not find a suitable buyer. But if recent reports are to be believed, they are now ready to take a hit on their costliest signing and let him leave on a cut-price deal in January to raise funds. The Spanish side may not avail anything close to what they paid for Coutinho, but the saving of wages will be vital.

2. Clement Lenglet

The French international joined Barcelona from Sevilla in July 2018 and soon established himself as a regular for the Blaugrana. However, his stock has seen a great slump after some dreadful performances in the last two years.

With Gerard Pique, Eric Garcia, Ronald Araujo, and Oscar Mingueza all favoured ahead of him, it is understood that the management is now likely to cash in on him in January. Newly minted Newcastle reportedly have made contact to try and bring Lenglet to St James’ Park while his former side Sevilla too have shown interest to sign him in January.

3. Riqui Puig

The academy starlet's time at Barcelona appears to be close to ending. He made swift progress in the club’s youth setup before being handed his first-team debut in December 2018 under the guidance of Ernesto Valverde.

He continued to be involved in the first-team set-up under Quique Setien’s short stint as well. However, the Spanish youngster's progress came to a halt once Ronald Koeman took charge. He featured sparingly for Barcelona in the past year and there were strong rumours of him leaving the club last summer.

However, the player decided to stay to put to fight for his place. But as per reports, Xavi too has not been impressed too much by the 22-year-old midfielder and he now could be sold with several La Liga and Serie A sides showing an interest.

Story first published: Thursday, December 2, 2021, 17:24 [IST]
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