Barcelona have little room for manoeuvre in the transfer market this January, but as has been the case since Joan Laporta arrived at the club for the second time, cut-price deals in the winter window will be considered. One of them could be Donny van de Beek of Manchester United.
The Dutch midfielder has struggled for game time ever since moving to United from Ajax, and recently admitted that ‘I need to be playing games’, as even the arrival of ex-Ajax boss Erik ten Hag seems to have brought him no closer to redemption. This season he has played just 21 minutes, after just 291 minutes the entirety of last season.
Now 26 years of age, his stance is understandable, and as per Sport, he will seek a way out in January. Juventus are interested van de Beek, as they look to paliate the suspensions of Paul Pogba and Nicolo Fagioli. The Catalan paper say that he has offered himself to Barcelona though, and note that the Blaugrana were interested in recruiting Frenkie de Jong’s midfield partner at Ajax before he went to Manchester.
The recruitment department are not particularly keen on the idea of signing a short-term solution to replace the injured Gavi for six months, but the coaching staff do believe he could be of use during a long season.
It seems highly likely that any deal would be a loan offer, given that Barcelona are likely to have minimal spending power due to being over their salary limit. While van de Beek no doubt would be useful, Barcelona are much more in need of a deeper midfielder to start the play. Van de Beek would be joining arguably the most crowded area of the pitch for Barcelona in terms of quality, with Pedri, Ilkay Gundogan, Frenkie de Jong, Sergi Roberto and Fermin Lopez competing for minutes there.
