How Mourinho could help Barcelona sign Ferran Torres

Martin Macdonald

• 29 Nov 2021 16:49 GMT
• 6 min read

New Barcelona head coach Xavi has made Manchester City winger Ferran Torres his number one transfer target.

At the moment, the Blaugrana will not be able to register new players in the January transfer window due to being close to their salary limit.

They need to raise funds either by selling players or agreeing on further wage cuts with their current stars.

In addition to Torres, several names have been linked with Barcelona like Raheem Sterling, Dani Olmo, Edinson Cavani and Timo Werner.

Those deals will not happen until they receive an injection of funds, but they could be about to receive a favour from an unlikely source in Jose Mourinho.

FOOTBALLTRANSFERS' MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS IN THE WORLD

The Portuguese manager is currently in charge at Roma and, according to Spanish outlet El Nacional, he wants to bring Memphis Depay to the Italian capital in the upcoming window.

Barcelona signed Memphis on a free transfer during the summer so any fee received would represent a major profit on their part.

El Nacional reports the Dutchman's value to be around €40 million.

FootballTransfers' values Memphis at €50 million.

FootballTransfers' transfer valuations are calculated in collaboration with SciSports, a world-leading football analytics agency that assesses the relative transfer valuations of over 60,000 professional footballers worldwide. SciSports use multiple data points including current and potential ability, contract length, form, age, and other crucial factors.

Memphis has made 19 starts in all competitions for Barcelona since his move, scoring eight goals.

Does Torres want to move to Barcelona?

In terms of performances on the pitch, club structure, club organisation and club infrastructure, Man City and Barcelona are a million miles apart.

The Catalan side are suffering from years of extravagant spending on transfer fees and wages.

The massive deals to bring in the likes of Griezmann, Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho have left the club on its knees financially. In the summer, they were ordered by La Liga to drastically reduce their wage bill which is what ultimately led to Messi's exit.

Even though Xavi has brought back a feel good factor, the club are not in the same league as Man City at any level, whether it be as a football team or a business.

However, according to Mundo Deportivo, Torres is keen to make the move to Barcelona.

Torres believes that, under Xavi, the only way is up for Barca as the former midfielder attempts to claw the club back to contention for major honours, in particular the Champions League.

And, Torres is keen to be one of the faces of the Xavi revolution.

At Man City, Torres does not believe he will ever be considered one of the team's biggest stars due to the presence of the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Raheem Sterling.

The Spaniard wants to become a key player, and thinks Barca would give him that status.