Barcelona’s January Transfer Rumors: Sign or Stay Away?
By Jim James
The start of a transfer window is always important, especially the January window. We can look at the mistakes and shortcomings of the first half of the season, and adjust accordingly to make sure we’re at full strength into the last critical 3.5 months of the season. Barca have been linked to many players over the last few weeks, one of them being Ferran Torres, who we’ve already signed. Seeing as we’ve already spent 55m and it’s still December, we’re probably going to be selling more than signing, but it doesn’t mean we can’t make this post. Today we’re looking at all the players Barcelona have been linked with over the last week and I’m going to say whether I want him to sign or not. Let’s begin.
Note: We’re using the site NewsNow to see who Barcelona are linked with.
Edinson Cavani
News Site: Pretty much all of them
Sign or Stay Away?: Sign
Fee: Free
I covered this one yesterday in my 15 potential January Transfers post, so I’ll make this one quick. Edinson Cavani is unhappy at his lack of game time despite his good form, Barca need a #9 after Sergio Aguero’s retirement, and before you ask, no, Ferran isn’t a striker, he’s a winger. Even though he’s in his mid 30s, he can be a good striker for the rest of the season before our push for Erling Haaland in the summer. I think he could be critical for a push to the Champions League places. Sign him.
Cesar Azpilicueta
News Site: All of them
Sign or Stay Away? Sign
Fee: Free
Cesar Azpilicueta is a signing that I think is underrated by the media. Sure, he’s 32 but he can play on the RB or CB positions, he’s a leader for our back line, and he has experience. He’d also be a perrenial starter on the team and get us points. Sign him up.
Hakim Ziyech
News Site: Express
Sign or Stay Away?: Stay Away
Fee: Dest + 30m
Along with a hefty price tag, we just signed Ferran Torres to play Hakim Ziyech’s postition. Ziyech has also flopped at Chelsea, something usually reserved for our big name attacking signings when we sign them, not before we sign them. I don’t think it would work.
Andreas Christensen
News Site: Express
Sign or Stay Away?: Stay Away
Fee: Dest
Since this transfer was reported, Andreas Christensen looks like he’s already turned down the chance to play for us, but even if he said yes, I’d say no. He would be the latest in our collection of below average CBs, and one of the oldest. At least Mingueza, Araujo and Eric Garcia can still improve, Andreas Christensen is now in the non development stage of his career, and he is going to stay like this for max 5 years and then get worse. He’d just become another Umtiti or Lenglet, minus the promising signs and many starts in the beginning of his Barca career. Just no.
Stole Dmitrievski
News Site: Barca Universal
Sign or Stay Away?: Stay Away
Fee: 20-25m
He’s a really good keeper, I’ll give you that. I also know that remember when he saved Memphis Depay’s penalty and cost Ronald Koeman his job, so maybe that was a blessing in disguise. Anyway, I respect what he’s did for Rayo, he’s got them to 4th place in La Liga, and someone who can do that shouldn’t be taking Neto’s place as 2nd choice, or even worse, Inaki Pena’s place as 3rd choice and starting on the B team. That combined with an inevitable huge price tag from Rayo, and our can’t waste money attitude at the minute. He just doesn’t really fit the bill for us or fits in, for us as a club or him as a player. He seems quite happy at Rayo. Next.
Alexis Sanchez
News Site: Onefootball
Sign or Stay Away?: STAY AWAY
Fee: Free
- JUST DON’T DO THIS. I know we’re semi-desperate for a striker, but Alexis Sanchez isn’t the way to go. If this was 2017, it would have been a resounding yes, but he’s old now, Terrible now, and he would do more harm than good. Yuck.
Dusan Vlahovic
News Site: Barca Blaugranes
Sign or Stay Away?: Sign
Fee: 70-90m
I’d love this transfer to happen, but there are a few things that I can’t look past. 1 is that in the week or so since we’ve signed him, we’ve got much lower in the pecking order to get him. 2 is the giant price tag Fiorentina have set for him. We can’t spend all that on Vlahovic. 3 is that if we spend that much on him, we can’t get Haaland and even if we did it would be an unnecessary big hole in our wallet, which again, we can’t afford to happen right now. I’d take him of course, but it may not work.
Mattigs de Ligt
News Sites: Many
Sign or Stay Away?: Sign
Fee: 75m
I think de Ligt could be the solution to our defense. One of Mingueza, Araujo, or Eric Garcia has to become good, and de Ligt, although he’s been disappointing, could be revived with Barca. As I explained yesterday, Juventus are looking to sell him on the cheap for a Dusan Vlahovic transfer and will accept most serious offers. However, a Barca transfer for De Ligt is different. In 2019, when de Ligt moved to Juve, Barca was one of the favorites to sign him. His agent Mino Raiola put in a clause that starting in the summer of 2022, Barca could sign him for 75 million. Barca have been one of the most heavily linked clubs to him, and I would definitely take him.
P-E Aubameyang
News Sites: Sportsmole
Sign or Stay Away?: Stay Away
Fee: Phil Coutinho or Ousmane Dembele
Nah. I wouldn’t take him. He’s been in decline since 2020, and he’s turned out to be a bad captain, a “COVID restrictions are a joke” person, and has an an attitude problem. In 2019 I would have taken him, but not now, not today. It makes you think, what if we had signed him and he went on the decline he went on in real life? How much worse would we be today? I know I’ve been talking about him a lot, but the Erling Haaland situation, it wouldn’t be much better, it would be worse in fact, if we signed Aubameyang.
Marcus Rashford
News Sites: Express
Sign or Stay Away?: Sign
Fee: 100m
He’s a solid player, and I would take him on our team, but that 100m price tag is staring you in the face, challenging you. Daring you. I just can’t overlook it. However, Marcus Rashford would be one of our best players, and he would start regularly, and the only problem would be a positional clash with Ansu, but that’s fine.
Anthony Martial
News Site: Express
Sign or Stay Away?: Sign
Fee: Loan
I’d take Martial, but only on a loan. We’re getting better next season, and I’d hate to see us become another Man U for him and have him rot away his career here. Although I’d say for the current season he could get a lot of game time and maybe even get his career back on track. I think he’ll sign for Sevilla, though.
Alejandro Frances
News Site: The hard Tackle
Sign or Stay Away?: Sign
Fee: 5-20m
Despite not shining on the big stage yet, Alejandro Frances has set the Segunda Division alight with his amazing defending at Real Zaragoza at just 19 years of age. The future star has been looked at by several top clubs, the latest of which being Barca, who want to get him before it is too late. I would take him. We have a lot of underperforming CBs, and Frances could prove to become better than any of them. He could be a sporadic 1st team player, get game time in the B Team or out on loan, and become a 1st team regular within 3 seasons.
Ryan Gravenberch
News Site: The Hard Tackle
Sign or Stay Away?: Sign
Fee: 35m
Yes. Sign him up. Do it. I demand you. Ryan Gravenberch is the latest wonderkid out of Ajax’s academy and he looks like he could sign for Barca over Real Madrid. I do think they should sell de Jong before signing Gravenberch, though. If we don’t we’ll have too many young players in the midfield. I’d take him in a heartbeat.
Jules Kounde
News Site: Barca Universal
Sign or Stay Away?: Sign
Fee: 80m
Kounde, like de Ligt, would be a great solution to our defensive issues. However, he would be a worse fit and overall worse for Barca. He should be our second choice. He would be more expensive, but older than de Ligt and has a lower ceiling. That said, I would still 100% take him.
Noussair Mazraoui
News Site: 101greatgoals
Sign or Stay Away?: Sign
Fee: Free
With Sergino Dest looking less and less likely to stay, Mazraoui seems like a great fit for our RB spot in the future. He’s better than Dest, still young, and he’s available on a free this summer, a Barca special. Yes, sign him.
Jose Gaya
News Site: 101greatgoals
Sign or Stay Away?: Sign
Fee: 35m
I’d say sign him, but just. Jordi Alba won’t be our left back forever, and signing Gaya would be good reassurance, as he’s only 26. I think he might be underrated. Again, putting a damper on this deal is a 35m price tag.
Arthur Cabral
News Site: Barcablaugranes
Sign or Stay Away?: Stay Away
Fee: 10m
I’m sorry. I wanted to, but I don’t think so. Cabral is a good player, but he just wouldn’t fit the Barca regime. He wouldn’t get game time and he’s too good for the B team. It would be a waste of money we can’t spare.
Kingsley Coman
News Site: MadaboutEPL
Sign or Stay Away?: Stay Away
Fee: 60m
I think that with the signing of Ferran, we’ve indirectly pulled out of these negotiations. Another waste of money we don’t have, the 55m for Ferran was boggling enough, if we spend another 60m on another RW, we might as well just bring Bartomeu back.
Mikel Merino
News Site: Thehardtackle
Sign or Stay Away?: Sign
Fee: 51m
Merino would be a beast of a midfielder, but the situation is like Kounde and de Ligt. More expensive, older, and a lower ceiling than Ryan Gravenberch. However, Merino is more proven than Gravenberch and a surer bet. I would also say that we should only sign him if we sign de Jong. If we sell de Jong, I’d be happy to get him in the midfield.
Paulo Dybala
News Site: Thehardtackle
Sign or Stay Away?: Stay Away
Fee: Free
Ok, it’s not entirely stay away. I’d say Dybala is a good consolation should we fail to sign Haaland, but if we do sign Haaland, Dybala is a waste of wages. We don’t play a 2-striker formation, and Dybala is a player you have to start all the time. So it’s stay away, but if Haaland chooses Real Madrid, change it to sign.
Luiz Felipe
News Site: Mundo Deportivo
Sign or Stay Away?: Sign
Fee: 40m
A 3rd contender in the young CB saga. I’d say sign, just, because even though he has potential, I think it sort of defeats the purpose of getting one star young CB to pair with Araujo/Mingueza/Eric in the future. Luiz Felipe is better than those 3 yes, but not by much. A 40 mil price tag is a lot for him. That being said, he’d be a great addition to our defense, and he’d be welcomed to the Camp Nou.
Marcelo Brozovic
News Site: Barca Universal
Sign or Stay Away?: Sign
Fee: 40m
He’s a dark horse in the de Jong replacement race. He’s already overperformed with Inter, and I generally like this player. Still relatively young, he would start most games, and he would be a great player. 40m is steep, but we can get that from a de Jong transfer. I’d take him.
Alvaro Morata
News Site: Daily Mail
Sign or Stay Away?: STAY AWAY
Fee: 15-25m
I want him really out of the team, not signing. He defeats the purpose of signing a #9. I think we would see his disappointment for Barca right away. However, one thing that he has got going for him is that he is an ex-Madridsta, and I always like to see ex-Madridstas sign for Barca. Morata would be the first since I’ve become a fan, and it’s great banter. But as a player, please stay away.
Thank you for reading this post. I took a while on this post. I hope you liked this. It will be fun to look back and see which of these players signed for Barca and for the players who did, if I should have been so optimistic or pessimistic about them. If this is my last post of 2021, thank you readers for reading this year, and I hope for a great and Haaland to Barca filled 2022. Until next time.