Barcelona are going through one of the toughest moments in its history. On March 8, 2021, Joan Laporta was elected president of the club, winning with 57.6% of the votes, and in one of his first conferences he said: “We have a debt of 1.3 billion euros”. Lionel Messi‘s departure has left several sequels in the Catalan team.
On October 8, 2021, Barcelona hired Xavi Hernández as its new coach. The Spaniard was chosen to rebuild the Culé team and assemble a team without stars. The team’s performance showed up during the season, but at times it was noticeable that Barcelona lacked players of hierarchy.
For the 2022-2023 season, Barcelona will be looking to sign players on the cheap. Furthermore, two signings have already been secured and will arrive at zero cost. However, for there to be new signings, Barça have to free up places in the squad. The candidates to leave the club are Clément Lenglet, Samuel Umtiti, Óscar Mingueza, Sergiño Dest, Riqui Puig, Memphis Depay, and Martin Braithwaite, as well as loan signings Philippe Coutinho, Miralem Pjanić, Francisco Trincão, and Álex Collado.
The squad that Xavi is planning for next season
During an interview on “RAC1”, Laporta assured: “We have two players signed, players with whom we can negotiate”. The Barcelona president declined to announce which two players will play for Barça next season, but when asked if it will be a center-back and a midfielder, he replied: “It goes that way”.
Thus, the rumors about the possible signings of Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie turned out to be true. The Danish player’s contract with Chelsea expires in June 2022, and he has decided not to renew it. Christensen is set to sign a contract with Barcelona for five seasons until 2027. For his part the Ivorian decided not to renew his contract with Milan after five years with the Rossoneri and accepted Barcelona’s offer. Thus, Barcelona will start the transfer window with two players signed at zero cost.
So far, the Barcelona line-up Xavi has in mind is as followsTer Stegen; Araujo, Pique, Christensen, Alba; Kessie, Gavi, Pedri; Torres, Ansu Fati, and Aubameyang.
In this context, Laporta acknowledged that Barcelona are interested in Raphinha. The Brazilian has a contract with Leeds United until June 2024, and according to Transfermarkt, his market value is 45,000,000 euros.
Another player that Barcelona will try to sign for next season is Robert Lewandowski. The Pole has a contract with Bayern Munich until June 2023, but he is considering a change of team. Journalist Gianluca di Marzio reported that Bayern Munich will request between 70 and 80 million euros from Barcelona for Lewandowski. The ‘Culés’ had in mind to offer around 30 million euros. According to Transfermarkt, the striker’s value is 50,000,000 euros.