Barcelona to sell THREE stars to make two players untouchable

Stuart Telford

• 11 Jan 2023 07:58 CST
• 3 min read

Ansu Fati is just one of three players Barcelona are ready to cash in on as they attempt to balance the books and keep two other stars in particular at the club…

Barca spent more than €150 million last summer bringing Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Kounde to Camp Nou, despite still being saddled with debt.

Lionel Messi had left on a free transfer to PSG the previous year with the club €1.35 billion in the red, and Barca activated "financial levers" - the sale of a percentage of future revenues - in order to go shopping before the start of this season.

READ: Barcelona's banter era: 2017 until… today?

But some of the above outlay was predicated on Barca making it to at least the quarter-finals of the Champions League. One group stage exit later, and they are once again desperate to avoid financial obliteration.

Accordingly, three players are for sale: Fati, Ferran Torres and Raphinha, as reported by El Chiringuito journalist Jose Alvarez Haya.

Indeed, Alvarez reports that only Lewandowski and Ousmane Dembele are safe at Camp Nou, with the club prepared to listen to offers for almost anyone else.

READ: Revealed: How Lewandowski has become Barcelona's off-field leader

Lewandowski has impressed since his €50m arrival from Bayern Munich last summer, hitting 18 goals in 20 games, including five from five in that ill-fated Champions League campaign, and at 34 his goals would be worth more than another transfer fee anyway.

Dembele was re-signed alongside Lewandowski and co. last summer after his contract had expired, and has enjoyed a second wind under Xavi with 14 goal-involvements in 23 games this season.

He is one of the four senior wingers Xavi has available to him in the first team squad, so it would appear unlikely for Barca to sell each of the other three.

With Ferran rated at €52m by Football Transfers' in-house algorithm, Raphinha €46.1 and Ansu €27.9, the appeal in offloading at least one of them is understandable, however.