Barcelona WILL strengthen in January, confirms Laporta
Martin Macdonald
- 11 Dec 2021 12:24 GMT
- 3 min read
Barcelona president Joan Laporta insists the club will strengthen the squad in the January transfer window despite their current financial issues.
The Blaugrana are in a terrible state financially, over €1.3 billion in debt.
In the summer they were ordered by La Liga to drastically reduce their wage bill which is what ultimately led to the departure of legendary figure Lionel Messi.
The club is not in a position to sign players for significant transfer fees in January, and will need to rely on loan deals with probable options to purchase.
Even to accomplish that, though, players will need to be moved on, and Laporta alluded to the need to further slim down the wage bill before reinvesting.
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"I share your disappointment about our elimination from the Champions League. We all agree that we need to reinforce the first team," Laporta said in a video posted on his personal Twitter account.
"The problem is that we have inherited some inflated contracts which don't give us margin with the wage cap. We're working to find a formula to improve the team this winter. We're working to do it, and we will achieve it.
"Now, I'm asking you to all work in the same direction in these times for the good of the club."
Who do Barcelona want to sign?
The player that Barcelona have most frequently been linked with recently is Manchester City forward Ferran Torres.
However, it seems unlikely that the transfer will happen in January as the Premier League giants are reportedly asking for €60m for Torres, while the most Barcelona are prepared to pay is €45m,
And, even at that price, the money would actually be exchanged in the summer and not in January.
Xavi's priority to improve the squad is in the attack, specifically someone effective as a centre-forward.
They have been linked with a raft of forwards in the press, including Anthony Martial, Raheem Sterling, Anthony Martial and Karim Adeyemi.
In more fantastical reports, they have been linked with Borussia Dortmund superstar Erling Haaland.
As mentioned above, however, Barcelona will need to try and sell as many fringe players as possible.
Samuel Umtiti, Philippe Coutinho, Luuk de Jong and Martin Braithwaite are the main squad members they are looking to offload.
