Out with the old, in with the… old?
Barcelon had hoped to sign Eric Garcia from Manchester City this summer, bidding €10m for the youngster whose contract has just a year to run. City rejected the offer, valuing the defender at €30m. Barcelona have since given up on trying to sign Garcia this summer and will wait until next summer to sign the Spain international on a free.
In the meantime, they have shifted to their ‘low cost plan’, report Mundo Deportivo. This plan entails selling the very promising 20-yer-old Jean-Clair Todibo, and signing an older central defender on loan or for free to plug a gap.
We’ve seen Barcelona make similar signings before. Jeison Murillo joined Barcelona on loan from Valencia in 2019 and played two games. Another signing of this ilk would be more of the same sort of business that got them into their current mess.
Barça have been looking at cheap central defenders all summer, previously showing interest in Thiago Silva before he joined Chelsea and David Luiz before he committed his future to Arsenal.
Their current shortlist includes Ezequiel Garay, who is without a club after being let go by the financially struggling Valencia, and Mario Hermoso on loan from Atlético Madrid.
Someone at the club even put forward the idea of re-signing Marc Muniesa. Marc Muniesa! The one who went to Stoke, and wasn’t very good!
Seven years after leaving the Camp Nou, Muniesa now plays in Qatar for Al-Arabi at the age of 28.
This is not the sort of business Barcelona should be doing, and it is a damning indictment on the club that it was even floated as a possibility.
Sure, they’ve sold Ivan Rakitić, Arturo Vidal and Luis Suárez, but bringing in more players who have either fled the European leagues for a quick pay cheque or players who are without a club as they enter their mid-30s is not a long term solution.
