Barcelona are still going to do their best to sign a midfielder this January, as President Joan Laporta and Xavi Hernandez stated in December, but they will tried to avoid being desperate int their pursuit.
The Blaugrana need to sell and bring €40m for Libero’s share in Barca Vision before the end of the January transfer market in order to be able to consider signing someone, something that looks unlikely as it is given their previous struggles.
If they do so though, Sporting Director Deco has several names in mind in order to strengthen the pivot position, one of which being Girona captain Aleix Garcia. Everton midielder Amadou Onana was another player considered, but his €50m price tag has distanced Barcelona from his signature.
🚨 Barca still want to sign a midfielder in January despite the FFP difficulties. They don't want to sign any player just for the sake of signing it. The club is looking for a player who is more pivotal than interior, powerful and proven. Aleix García is one of the most liked… pic.twitter.com/95v1K6g0VN
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) January 9, 2024
However above all, Sport and MD say that Barcelona do not want to sign for the sake of it. While they are aware of the difficulty of finding a player that meets their requirements, they do not want to bring in a player that is not of the required quality to make up the numbers, or as it is not so diplomatically put, ‘signing a Boateng’. Kevin Prince Boateng was brought in during the January transfer window in 2019 on loan from Sassuolo as cover for Luis Suarez, but played only four times for the club, and could not score in his 303 minutes on the pitch.
That was not the only patch signing Barcelona have made in the winter transfer window. As the squad planning at the Blaugrana became increasingly erratic over the last decade, Barcelona have become more and more active in January, often making signings for just six months. Some have worked out, in the case of Adama Traore who gave them a short burst, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who was excellent during his time at the Blaugrana, and earned them a healthy profit. The likes Martin Braithwaite, Jeison Murillo and even Philippe Coutinho are the flipside of that policy.
