Nemanja Matic becomes an option for Barcelona

Euan McTear

17 Oct 2021 13:52 BST
3 min read

Benfica boss explains why club won’t sign Man Utd midfielder Matic this summer — © ProShots

With little money available at the Camp Nou, Barcelona are scouring the market in search of low-cost deals and they might have found one with Nemanja Matic. The Serbian midfielder has a contract at Manchester United until 2023, so the Catalan club are hopeful that they’d be able to sign him next summer at a knockdown price.

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Matic will turn 34 next summer and Manchester United could look to move on from the veteran midfielder as they aim to rejuvenate their engine room with the likes of Aurélien Tchouaméni.

Matic could be sold for less than 10m pounds

According to The Sun, Matic’s potential price tag next summer would be less than 10 million pounds and this is a fee that Barcelona would be able to pay. They might even be able to afford this in January, with CEO Ferran Reverter revealing that Antoine Griezmann’s departure has freed up some budget for the winter window.

Griezmann’s exit has freed up 20m euros in salary space for January.

- Barcelona CEO Ferran Reverter

Given that midfield isn’t such a pressing need for Barcelona, especially following the emergence of youngsters Gavi and Nico, the Catalan club would be more likely to wait until next summer to enquire seriously about Matic.

In the meantime, they have asked Manchester United to keep the Catalan club informed of any updates to the player’s situation.

Listening to "E8 - Nemanja Matic's Soccer Journey from Serbia to England, via Slovakia, Netherlands and Portugal." at https://t.co/H88pxuKkh6
— Nemanja Matic (@NemanjaMatic) May 15, 2021

These two clubs haven’t conducted any business between the first teams since Gerard Piqué’s return to the Camp Nou in 2008, but Joan Laporta is understood to have a good relationship with several directors at Old Trafford and there is confidence that a deal could be done next summer which would satisfy all parties.

Barcelona’s more pressing needs

In the meantime, Barcelona’s more pressing transfer needs are in attack and at full-back, especially the latter since Sergiño Dest and Jordi Alba are the only natural right-back and left-back in the current first-team squad.

In January, this is where the Blaugrana’s focus should be, before considering more of an overhaul in the summer window.