The five Barcelona players who could leave in January

Stuart Telford

• Updated: 30 Dec 2022 08:37 GMT
• 5 min read

Barcelona may be top of La Liga but they need to offload players in the January transfer window if they are to bring anyone else in after their early Champions League exit.

Barca spent big last summer, with more than €150 million paid to Bayern Munich, Leeds and Sevilla for Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Kounde respectively.

That outlay was set against a backdrop of near financial obliteration for the Blaugrana, who activated "financial levers" - the selling of a percentage of future revenues - in order to pull away from a debt which once stood at €1.35 billion.

READ: Barcelona's banter era: 2017 until… today?

Which players could leave Barcelona in January 2023?

Barca are two points clear of champions and Clasico rivals Real Madrid at the top of La Liga, but they failed to escape Champions League Group C and are now looking to balance the books further with transfers out of Camp Nou.

— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) August 11, 2022

Football Transfers looks at the players most likely to leave…

Memphis Depay

Depay reportedly feels slighted by Barca, and it is perhaps little wonder. He joined a club in crisis when he arrived from Lyon in the summer of 2021, two months before Lionel Messi left on a free for PSG, and duly top scored with 13 goals. Barca's thanks was to acquire Pierre-Emerick Aubemeyang then Robert Lewandowski, two players in his position.

The Dutchman is out of contract in June and would be available for a knock-down price should he leave in the winter window. Former club Manchester United could make a move, but there is also Premier League interest from Chelsea and Newcastle.

READ: Barcelona 'celebrating' Depay's World Cup performances amid transfer hope

Jordi Alba

Barca had four club captains at the start of the season - Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, Sergi Roberto and Alba. Pique has retired, Busquets and Roberto are out of contract at the end of the season, and then there is Alba.

One of the highest-paid players at Camp Nou, his contract runs until 2024, and Barca are keen to get him off the books, especially now Alex Balde has emerged as their first-choice left-back. They tried to force a move to Inter Milan last summer, but Newcastle might now be a more likely destination with Dan Burn, a centre-back by trade, having played left-back this season.

Franck Kessie

Kessie has only been at Barcelona for a relative 10 minutes having arrived on a free from AC Milan last summer, but he simply can't get a look in in Barca's midfield. Busquets is shining in what is likely his farewell tour, Pedri and Gavi have been handed new contracts with €1bn release clauses, and Frenkie de Jong remains - although not for the want of trying on the club's part.

Tottenham Hotspur and Inter are among the clubs looking to give the Ivorian - who is rated at €39.1m by Football Transfers' in-house algorithm - a way out.

Ansu Fati

Fati, like Pedri and Gavi, has a bumper new contract with the same release fee, but unlike that midfield pair he has fallen out of favour at Camp Nou, with wide men Ousmane Dembele, Raphinha and Ferran Torres all playing more than him.

"He's fine at Barca, but Jorge Mendes [Fati's agent] has told Xavi that if the boy doesn't play, he'll change his team," Fati's uncle Braima Camar told Catalan radio station RAC1. Manchester City and Juventus lie in wait.

Hector Bellerin

Hector Bellerin made what seemed like a dream return to Barcelona from Arsenal in the summer, having left for London as an academy player in 2011. But his dream has soon turned into a nightmare with a calf injury restricting him to just one La Liga start.

The flying right-back rejected a January move to Jose Mourinho's Roma in November but could now end up there with Barca reportedly ready to cut their losses, settling for a nominal fee if any at all.