Barcelona look as if they will see three departures on transfer deadline day, but two defenders are set to stay.
Earlier this week it was reported that Barcelona had an exit list of players that could leave the club, with Marcos Alonso, Eric Garcia, Ez Abde and Ansu Fati featuring on it, in addition to Clement Lenglet farewell assumed.
The French defender and Ansu Fati are set to leave Barcelona on loan to the Premier League, with Aston Villa and Brighton their destinations respectively. Meanwhile Real Betis are in negotiations for Abde, who could be the third.
However neither Garcia nor Alonso look as if they will leave. The former had been the subject of interest from Girona, and was keen to leave on loan too, telling Manager Xavi Hernandez that he did not think he would play often enough at Barcelona. His manager has assured him that he will, and the club will only accept a large offer for him, leaving his exit ‘practically discarded’.
🚨 Eric García's departure is pretty much ruled out, unless Girona come up with a big offer tomorrow that's hard to reject. @sanantheone
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) August 31, 2023
Alonso was subject to interest from Manchester United to strengthen their left-back position, but amid reports he did not want to leave, Xavi has also made him aware he was considered an important piece. Relevo say that United did enquire about how much a deal would cost, but Alonso will now remain.
With Alonso the only natural alternative to Alejandro Balde at left-back, it makes sense for Barcelona to hang onto the former Chelsea defender. It would be easy to see a world where Garcia plays infrequently too, given he is fifth choice behind Inigo Martinez, Andreas Christensen, Jules Kounde and Ronald Araujo, but given some of the injury issues that group have faced, Xavi’s stance is understandable.
