
Championship talking points: Blockbuster final week awaits
Exciting final week ahead in the Championship as Ipswich and Middlesbrough vie for top spots.
Barcelona is open to offers for three first-team players as they aim to improve their financial situation ahead of the summer transfer window. The club needs significant sales to raise capital for new signings.
Barcelona open to listening to offers for three first-team stars
With the summer transfer window just around the corner, Barcelona are hard at work trying to figure out their fair play margin so they can strengthen the team next season.
For now, the club are not in the financial position to bring in their top two targets: Alessandro Bastoni and Julian Alvarez.
While the expected departure of Robert Lewandowski will help ease the salary bill, the club ideally require some big name sales in order to truly raise capital.
To that end, a recent report from Diario SPORT suggests Barcelona are ready to listen to offers for three of their first team stars.
The players in question include Alejandro Balde, Ronald Araujo and Jules Kounde. However, the club will not sell them for cheap or out of desperation.
Balde, for one, has been valued at around €50 million and the Catalans will not entertain any offers below that amount, as the Spaniard is currently one of the most gifted young fullbacks in Europe.
Barcelona are ready to sell Araujo this coming summer. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Barcelona view both Araujo and Kounde in the same fashion, although their case will have to be studied individually.
Araujo, for example, has witnessed a massive decline in the past few years and is unlikely to fetch a lucrative amount in the transfer market. Not to mention, the player himself is not too keen on leaving Barcelona.
Kounde, on the other hand, is an exciting talent in the defensive department due to his versatility. But his form has been woeful in the recent past, which doesn’t bode well for the Blaugrana.
Losing Kounde could also make Barcelona way too exposed in the right-back position, unless the club can bring in a reliable option in addition to Joao Cancelo.
Barcelona has not specified the names of the three first-team stars they are open to selling.
Barcelona needs to sell players to ease their salary bill and raise capital to strengthen the team for the upcoming season.
Barcelona's top transfer targets for the summer are Alessandro Bastoni and Julian Alvarez, but they currently lack the financial means to sign them.

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