Barcelona appear to have signed an impressive prospect in 19-year-old Senegalese defender Mikayil Faye last summer, but he could be on the move again in the next transfer window.
Signing for €2.2m from Croatian second division side NK Kustosija, Faye has been a regular for Rafael Marquez at Barca Atletic this summer, impressing throughout the season. Already in January, the Blaugrana rejected an offer late in the transfer window from RC Lens of around €9m.
🚨 The Premier League and Ligue 1 are keeping tabs on Mikayil Faye, who's standing out at the B side. Barça already rejected an offer of 9 million euros for him and now, it's not ruled out that offers double that amount will arrive. @RogerTorello 🇸🇳 pic.twitter.com/IYuPsuXc3U
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) February 27, 2024
According to Catalan daily MD, the next offers could double that amount for the teenager. They report that Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund headline the list of suitors for him this summer, with Lens still interested in him too. Nice, who could be losing former Barcelona defender Jean-Marie Todibo, and Lille, who could be losing Real Madrid target Leny Yoro, have also shown interest. All of the interested parties believe he is ready to play at the top level already.
Barcelona may well be open to a sale if Faye’s price tag does move towards 10 times what they paid for him. While they would not doubt like to hang onto to him, they are in desperate need of sales this summer, and this would be an easy operation without weakening the first team. Faye also has a tricky path to a starting role, with Inigo Martinez, Ronald Araujo, Andreas Christensen, Jules Kounde, Pau Cubarsi, Eric Garcia and in theory Clement Lenglet for competition looking ahead to the summer.
I think Cash Strapped Barcelona maybe having a all out fire sale this summer. I am sure they would want to get rid of their higher wage players first. One thing for certain is that they cannot afford Mbappe’s wages, so they can cross him off their wanted list. Maybe Arsenal can sort out a private sponsorship deal to supplement Mbappe’s wage demand!