How will Barcelona spend their 20m euro January budget?

They may be in a financial mess, but Barcelona could still make some signings in the January transfer window. The club’s CEO Ferran Reverter has revealed that the Blaugrana have 20 million euros to work with in the winter transfer market.

Although the Catalan club only had a LaLiga salary limit of 97.9m euros for the 2021/22 season, the CEO explained that the deadline day transfer of Antoine Griezmann to Atlético Madrid has freed up 20m euros more in cap space.

President Joan Laporta and his team are already working on possible movements for this January and there are two key areas where the club will look to improve. One is in attack, as Ronald Koeman has repeatedly called for reinforcements in that area. The other is at full-back, as Jordi Alba and Sergiño Dest are the only natural full-backs in the first-team squad right now.

Barcelona need to strengthen at full-back

The latter position is more important than the former. Raheem Sterling has been seriously linked as a potential attacking reinforcement, but Koeman does have more forward options available now that Ansu Fati, Ousmane Dembélé and Sergio Agüero have recovered from injuries, while Martin Braithwaite is expected back in early 2022.

Full-back has been a problem, though, especially since Jordi Alba has suffered injuries to start off the new season. B team left-back Alejandro Baldé has been out injured too, leaving Dest working overtime at left-back, with Sergi Roberto or Óscar Mingueza left to play out of position on the right.

The three left-backs who Barcelona were linked with in the summer were Atalanta’s Robin Gosens, Benfica’s Alejandro Grimaldo and Valencia’s José Gayà. They would all be most welcome at the Camp Nou, but each would command a significant transfer fee and this could be Barcelona’s main problem.

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Loan options could be attractive to Barcelona

While Barça were able to add to their squad in the summer by bringing in Memphis Depay, Eric García and Sergio Agüero as free agents, this low-cost solution won’t be as available in January. With most contracts in world football running from June to June, transfer fees will have to be paid in January, even if it might be possible to negotiate low amounts for any players with expiring contracts.

The other option is to sign players on loan, an option Barcelona haven’t used – or had to use – for many years. In the decade before 2021, the only players the Blaugrana signed on loan for their first team were Jeison Murillo and Kevin-Prince Boateng in 2018/19.

Already, Laporta and co. have realised that the loan market might be a temporary fix for the club, as they brought in Luuk de Jong and Yusuf Demir on loans in the summer, even if Demir was supposed to be for the B team, before impressing in pre-season and earning a promotion.

Barcelona may have 20m euros to spend in January, but their hands remain partially tied given the economic mess at the club. They will look to sign a full-back and a forward if possible, but they could have to turn to the loan market to do so. That limits the options even further.