Barça stirs a frenetic market closing, although austere
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. /
The Catalan club reaches an agreement in principle with Chelsea for the sale of Aubameyang that would include the arrival of Marcos Alonso in Barcelona
Barcelona is the main protagonist in the final stretch of the transfer market. The club chaired by Joan Laporta has reached an agreement in principle with Chelsea for the sale of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in exchange for some twelve million euros plus the arrival in Barcelona of Marcos Alonso, Xavi Hernández's favorite to occupy the Starting position on the left side, a private preserve in recent seasons for a Jordi Alba who has refused to go out on loan to Inter Milan, despite the fact that the Barça entity had already closed the deal with the Lombard club.
The departure of Aubameyang, author of 13 goals in the 23 games he played last season, serves to lower Barça's wage bill, which has pressed the accelerator in recent hours to unravel the handful of operations that still had pending resolution to the end of a frenetic summer in the Barça offices. The current runner-up in the League terminated the contract of Martin Braithwaite, who will sign for Espanyol after Barça agreed to pay him a good part of the salary that remained to be received until June 30, 2024, the date on which the bond that sealed it expired after landing in Barcelona in February 2020, from Leganés.
The Danish attacker did not count for Xavi Hernández, as was the case with Sergiño Dest, who this morning took a plane to Italy to join Milan. The winger is leaving on loan for a season and the Rossoneri will have a purchase option for 20 million euros. The departure of the American could open the doors of Barça to Héctor Bellerín, who is working to disassociate himself from Arsenal and return to the club where he was trained, after being a member of Betis last year on loan. In addition, Ez Abde is going on loan to Osasuna, after renewing with Barça until 2026.
But the final firework could come from the hand of Memphis Depay, who would have asked to leave when he did not see his options of having minutes clear, despite the departure of Aubameyang. The Dutchman was very close to Juventus, but the Bianconera entity got tired of waiting for the attacker and brought in Arkadiusz Milik. Now the best placed to recruit the former Olympique Lyonnais is Chelsea, which would thus add the two Barça strikers to their ranks.
Other offices that set fire to these hours are those of Valencia. The Levante entity recovers Ilaix Moriba, who has signed the contract that rejoins him on loan for a season from Leipzig to the bat club, where he left a pleasant impression last year. Valencia's purpose was to do the same with Bryan Gil, but Tottenham's difficulties in finding a replacement for the Barbate winger have led the club chaired by Khojama Kalimuddin to close with Roma the loan with the purchase option of Justin Kluivert, who did not It was part of José Mourinho's plans. Who Gennaro Gattuso will no longer have will be Maxi Gómez, who was presented this Thursday by Trabzonspor. Nor with Carlos Soler, who will sign until 2027 with PSG after the Parisians agreed to pay 18 million plus 4 in variables for the Spanish international. They also have a foot and a half out of Valencia Manu Vallejo, one step away from Girona, and Uros Racic, with his transfer to Sporting de Braga practically sealed.
While tranquility reigns in Real Madrid, since Marco Asensio has decided to continue in Chamartín and use up the remaining year of his contract, Atlético de Madrid presented Sergio Reguilón this Thursday and crosses his fingers so that the Premier League does not throw the loop at Yannick Carrasco. At Sevilla, Monchi considered the squad closed, after Adnan Januzaj and Kasper Dolberg, the last two signings of the Nervión club, were already placed under the orders of Julen Lopetegui, and the departure of Lucas Ocampos to Ajax was definitively resolved .
Sadiq, new benchmark for Real Sociedad
Like Sevilla, Real Sociedad did not wait until the last moment to resolve the pending duties and Imanol Alguacil knows that he can already count on Umar Sadiq. The Nigerian striker arrives in San Sebastian with the mission of filling the void left by Alexander Isak's departure for Newcastle. The 'txuri urdin' will pay 20 million fixed plus five in variables to Almería, which makes the African the most expensive signing in its history.
Another of the Spanish clubs competing this year in Europe, Villarreal, has reached an agreement with Elche for Johan Mojica to join the ranks of the 'yellow submarine', who trusts that Everton's interest in Samu Chukwueze will not be concrete so as not to lose the Nigerian winger.
Rayo Vallecano made official the arrival of Abdul Mumin, a Ghanaian defender from Vitoria de Guimaraes who signs for the next four seasons. Girona presented Oriol Romeu, a midfielder who is leaving Southampton to wear red and white for the next three seasons, and brought on Toni Fuidias, a goalkeeper from the Real Madrid academy, as well as the Italian-Argentine goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga, until now at the Fulham. Celta is reinforced with Norwegian striker Jorgen Strand Larsen, who will be light blue until June 2028. Valladolid is finalizing the arrival of Robert Kenedy, a midfielder from Chelsea. And Getafe has closed the loan of Jordan Amavi, a left-back who is owned by Olympique de Marseille.
