How Barcelona could line up with Mbappe

Martin Macdonald

• 25 Mar 2022 09:21 GMT
• 3 min read

Barcelona have reportedly made contact with Kylian Mbappe to convince the World Cup winner to move to Camp Nou this summer.

Mbappe's contract at Paris Saint-Germain expires in a few months and it seems a certainty that he will leave the club as a free agent.

PSG are desperate to keep him and have offered him a new deal that would make him the highest-paid player in the world, but Mbappe is keen to leave, especially after the club's recent failure in the Champions League when they were eliminated at the last-16 stage.

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Real Madrid have been front-runners to sign Mbappe and it seemed a foregone conclusion that he would end up at Santiago Bernabeu.

However, Barcelona have attempted to hijack that deal, and according to L'Equipe, have already reached out to his representatives.

The PSG forward is still prioritising his dream move to Real Madrid, but will apparently sit down with Barcelona to hear their pitch, as he is eager to join the best "project" available.

Barca are not in a healthy state financially but are hoping to put together funds for more major acquisitions this summer.

They have received a healthy €595m loan from Goldman Sachs, while they have struck a €70m-a-year deal with Spotify for naming rights for the Camp Nou.

Barcelona XI with Mbappe

It is likely that Barcelona will make more than one signing this summer, as in addition to Mbappe they have been strongly linked with the likes of Robert Lewandowski, Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen, Franck Kessie, Nicolas Tagliafico and Noussair Mazraoui.

There is, of course, also the situation surrounding Ousmane Dembele.

The Frenchman's contract will expire in the summer and, at the moment, it appears he will leave, though that could obviously change.

For the purposes of this XI, we'll look at players already at the club.

Marc-Andre ter Stegen may not be in the best form of his career, but he will remain Barcelona's number one.

Sergino Dest doesn't appear to be fully trusted by Xavi, so Dani Alves might keep his place at right-back if nobody else comes in.

The same can be said for Gerard Pique, Ronald Araujo and Jordi Alba.

Barcelona's strongest area of the pitch is in midfield and the favoured trio of Sergio Busquets, Pedri and Frenkie de Jong should continue, though Gavi and Nico will receive plenty of game time also.

Mbappe should slot in on the right-hand side as a replacement for Dembele, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang through the middle and Ferran Torres on the left.

Ansu Fati is still around, of course, but he will need to prove he can stay fit for an extended period of time in order to become a key player.