Araujo among 'seven or eight exits' at Barcelona this summer

15 Jul 2023 16:48 BST
3 min read

Barcelona's Robert Lewanndowski and Ronald Araujo — © ProShots

Barcelona plan to sell six players before leaving for their pre-season tour of the USA on Wednesday, and another two once they return to Spain.

Barca have been told to reduce their debt by €200 million if they want to take part in La Liga next season, but so far this summer they have committed to spending €40m on Vitor Roque, who will arrive from Athletico Paranaense in January.

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Ilkay Gundogan and Inigo Martinez have also arrived on frees from Manchester City and Athletic Bilbao, and whilst no transfer fee was paid for either, signing on fees and significant salaries push the needle in the wrong direction for Barca, financially.

READ: Barcelona raid Man Utd for talented youngster

For all of president Joan Laporta's 'financial levers', the quickest path to cash liquidity will be players sales, and Barca reportedly have a number lined up.

OFFICIAL: Barcelona have finally signed Julian Araujo from LA Galaxy.

But unfortunately he can’t be registered for the first team and will have to play for Barça Atletic pic.twitter.com/JjHo2Ginfp

— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) February 17, 2023

Barca fire sale

"Barca are working with the objective of closing six departures before travelling to the United States next Wednesday 19 July," write Catalonia-based Sport.

"These are: Julian Araujo (to Las Palmas), Clement Lenglet (Tottenham Hotspur), Nico Gonzalez (Porto), Franck Kessie (Juventus), Pablo Torre (Girona) and Alex Collado (Betis). They could also be joined by Sergino Dest and Ez Abde once back in Barcelona."

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Manchester United and Cheslea were credited with an interest in Dest last summer, while Bayer Leverkusen have sent scouts to watch Abde.

If Barca can ship all of those players for close to their current FootballTransfers' valuation, they could swell their coffers by more than €100m.

They could also be tempted to cash in on some players who might otherwise remain in their plans. Lamine Yamal's emergence has come at the perfect time for Barca to court Al-Ahli's interest in Raphinha, while Frenkie de Jong could be used as a makeweight to sign Man City's Bernardo Silva.