Since the end of the season, Barcelona officials, Joan Laporta and Xavi Hernandez have been working to put the club in order and assemble a first-class team. The Cules will begin their pre-season on July 4.
They will have twelve days of training before traveling to the United States where they will face Inter Miami CF and the NY Red Bulls and then participate in the Soccer Champions Tour. But Xavi intends to start the preseason with new signings.
Although not officially confirmed, Barcelona have already signed Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie, both of whom will arrive at zero cost. However, club officials are working to sign Robert Lewandowski and fulfill Xavi's requests. The coach wants to reinforce the defense, and the club is negotiating with Marcos Alonso, but if they fail to sign him, Xavi would have a plan B in mind.
Xavi's plan B if failed to sign Marcos Alonso
Barcelona have advanced negotiations with Marcos Alonso. He is the preferred player, for sporting and economic reasons, and the azulgrana club are convinced that Chelsea will not put many obstacles to reaching an agreement.
However, Blues officials are expected to have a meeting with the 31-year-old and there everything can change. That is why Xavi's plan B would be to sign Oleksandr Zinchenko. The Ukrainian, whose contract expires in June 2024, has never been an indispensable player for Pep Guardiola, and it is believed that both the club and the player would welcome a change of team.
In the 2021-2022 season, Zinchenko made 28 of a possible 57 appearances and did not score goals for Manchester City. According to rumors, West Ham and Arsenal would also be interested in signing him. In addition, according to Transfermark, the 25-year-old is valued at 25,000,000 euros.
