Ferran Torres is set to move to the Nou Camp in January
Ferran Torres looks set to depart Manchester City and join Barcelona in January after several reports in Spain suggested that a fee had been agreed.
According to multiple reports in Spain, Man City have agreed on a fee of €45m to sell Ferran Torres to Barcelona and an official announcement is expected in the coming days pic.twitter.com/Me8ZdHx1vB
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) December 22, 2021
According to sources at the Athletic, the deal is set to be around the £46m mark with an extra £10 million coming in add-ons.
The news has seen many question how Barcelona are able to afford the fee, given their well-documented financial issues.
One Spanish outlet has suggested a possible explanation: Torres may be part of a swap deal, with Dutch international Frenkie De Jong heading to the Etihad Stadium.
El Nacional have reported that Pep Guardiola’s side value Torres in and around the region of £60 million – the same price Barça value De Jong and therefore a straight swap would allow the Catalan giants to get their main target.
Barcelona have also previously stated that whilst they would be able to sign players, they would have to sell players first in order to comply with financial fair play rules.
Ferran Torres close to move to Barcelona. This is how#FCB have got money to buy players like Ferran (even if they have to pay around €60m+ in transfer fees) after a recent huge bank loan
The problem is LaLiga fair play. They can't add him to the squad unless FCB sell players https://t.co/i1hTRoULWD
— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) December 22, 2021
The Spanish international hasn’t featured for City since October due to recovering from a foot injury he suffered whilst on international duty with Spain.
The 21-year-old was set to return to action in January, however, as stated by the Athletic, had become frustrated over the lack of game time, with promises from Xavi and Barcelona that he would be a key figure in their long-term plans.
Torres isn’t the only player on City’s books to have been linked with a move to the Nou Camp, with previous reports suggesting there was interest in Raheem Sterling making the move to La Liga.
Given Sterling’s recent resurgence in form and more regular playing time, it now appears unlikely that a deal would be completed.
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