A day after drawing to Inter in the UEFA Champions League, Barcelona president Joan Laporta asked for patience from the fans while assuring them that the team does have a plan in place for the January transfer market.
In an interview, the chief admitted that Xavi will indeed have new players at his disposal and if a report from Spanish publication Mundo Deportivo is to be believed, the incorporation of a midfielder and a right-back is on the top of their list.
As reported before, the Blaugrana are looking to replicate an old recipe that was adopted back in 2004 while signing key midfielder Edgar Davids on loan from Juventus. For that, several players such as Ruben Neves, Youri Tielemans, Jorginho, and N’Golo Kante have been shortlisted.
For now, however, there is no settlement on a fixed solution. This is mainly because the team wants someone who can dominate the midfield through his mere presence. In short, their idea is to sign a physically strong midfielder who can match the standards of Robert Lewandowski, Ousmane Dembele and others.
On top of that, a new right-back who can take over the starting spot is also being looked at. The game against Bayern Munich showed that Hector Bellerin is well off the required standards while Sergi Roberto’s injury issues continue to plague him.
Xavi has had to use Jules Kounde and Ronald Araujo at right-back on occasions this season and a more permanent solution is being sought for the position
But they are in no capacity to invest big in January after having splashed the cash in the summer. So all this has prompted them to look for those whose contracts expire in 2023.
This way, the team can either look for a pre-contract agreement or can acquire them at a modest price in January itself.
Another thing to take important note of is the fact that Barcelona cannot really cross the red line as they have already recorded financial losses after dropping out of the UEFA Champions League, but given that there still remain other titles to compete for, the management wants to strengthen the vulnerable areas.
So once the FIFA World Cup is done and dusted, one can expect Barcelona to study the transfer market in great detail while acquiring a midfielder and a right-back.