- 17 Dec 2024
Braithwaite: Barcelona signings won’t scare me
Martin Macdonald
- Updated: 17 May 2021 20:34 BST
- 2 min read
Barcelona striker Martin Braithwaite says he wants the club to bring in reinforcements in the forward line, and that the prospect of competing for minutes with a potential marquee signing doesn’t scare him.
When Ronald Koeman took over as head coach of the Blaugrana in the summer, he let veteran striker Luis Suarez go to Atletico Madrid without bringing in a replacement.
Memphis Depay of Lyon was his primary transfer target, but with the club hit hard financially by the pandemic, they couldn’t afford the Dutchman even though he was and still is available at a knockdown price due to his contract expiring soon.
There are still rumours that Barcelona will come in for him again in January to inject some quality into their forward line, with Barca only having Antoine Griezmann and Braithwaite as recognised central ‘number nines’ at the moment.
Koeman even said recently that the club need to bring in players to help them out in the short term.
Braithwaite signed for Barca nearly a year ago after the club triggered his release clause at Leganes, given special permission by La Liga to complete the transfer outside of the designated window due to the long-term injury suffered by Ousmane Dembele.
Although it was viewed as an emergency deal of sorts, he remains at the Camp Nou, and he is willing to fight for his place even if recruits are brought in.
“I like that other players are sought out,” the Denmark international told TV3.
“It is supposed to be like that in a club like this, which aspires to have the best in the world.
“You need to have internal competition. You can’t trust everything to a small group of players. Only in this way will you get the most out of the players and the team in each game.
“It doesn’t scare me, it motivates me.”
