Five Players That Barcelona Must Sell Before The Deadline

Barcelona have already unveiled two new signings this summer in Arthur and Clement Lenglet, with a rumoured bid of £55 million also on the table for Chelsea’s Willian.

Given that Ernesto Valverde has committed to working with a smaller squad in 2018/19, that means some of the ‘dead wood’ needs to be shifted, and pretty quickly too.

Let’s take a look at five players that the Catalans really should be looking to offload before the transfer window closes…

Andre Gomes

The biggest name of those who need to go, Andre Gomes is a shadow of the player that Barcelona thought they were buying.

Any confidence that he had whilst at Valencia has ebbed away to the point where a move seems the most sensible for all concerned.

The Catalans don’t want to make a loss on a player they paid €35 million for (plus €20m in add ons), but there isn’t a single club that’s willing to go to anywhere near that at the moment.

Even at €25m, Barca can’t get any takers.

The Portuguese has never really mastered the style of football at the Camp Nou but with age still very much on his side, whoever does eventually put their hands in their pockets has the opportunity to resurrect the Gomes of old.

Andre Gomes’ next club:

Arsenal 

Tottenham 

Wolves 

Newcastle 

Douglas

Yes, Douglas is still a Barcelona player!

Incredibly, the Brazilian has only played 112 minutes for the club since his transfer in 2014, but can count a Champions League, two La Liga titles and two Copa del Rey titles in his honours list.

The full circumstances surrounding his initial transfer have never been adequately explained, and despite being loaned to Sporting Gijon and Benfica, the Brazilian keeps finding his way back to the Camp Nou.

He won’t get a look in during 2018/19 either with Nelson Semedo the natural right-back and Sergi Roberto more than able to cover.

Even if neither of those were available, the likelihood is the club would delve into the Barca B squad for other options.

Munir

The youngster burst onto the scene at roughly the same time as Sandro Ramirez, and capped his debut against Elche with a goal.

His star had already shone brightly after scoring from his own half for Barca’s youth team in the UEFA Youth League against Benfica but, unfortunately, like Bojan and others before him, his dalliance with the first team was all too brief.

He didn’t score again for them for another 16 months, and when he did find the net, it was only against minnows Villanovense in the Copa del Rey.

A loan was inevitable, and thus far he’s had two; Valencia and Alaves.

Neither has seen an improvement to the degree where he’ll get any game time with the Blaugrana, so if any reasonable offer comes in, Barca will take it.

Aleix Vidal

Will he, won’t he…?

Aleix Vidal was on the verge of moving in the last window, but his employers just couldn’t get an acceptable deal over the line.

As with Douglas, Vidal knows the right-side is already covered and he’s only an afterthought there.

When given opportunities last season, his performances were meritorious, but seemingly still not good enough for Ernesto Valverde.

His price has already been dropped from €12m to 9m, and at that price, favourites Sevilla, or any other club that might show an interest, would be getting themselves a bargain.

At 28, there’s still a lot left in Vidal’s tank, and he will be champing at the bit to prove himself again.

Aleix Vidal’s Next Club:

Locomotiv Moscow: 

Sevilla 

Inter Milan 

Sergi Samper

When Sergi Samper made his debut with the senior team, he had finally realised a dream that began way back in the youngest section of the club, and had seen him play at every level for Barcelona.

Like others on this list, he wasn’t afforded the amount of minutes he needed to hone his skill set and, eventually, what came naturally to him started to need work.

Confidence dipped and a player who was heavily tipped to be the future of the club also found himself out on loan.

His time at Granada was a relative personal success even if they were relegated at the end of the 2016/17 campaign, but his Las Palmas stint was cut short after he fractured his fibula and ruptured his left ankle ligaments.

At 23, it’s hugely important for his development that he gets games now, and with an already overbooked midfield, that isn’t going to happen with Barcelona.

Sergi Samper’s Next Club:

Ajax

Crystal Palace