Price tag scaring Barcelona away from midfield target

Barcelona fear that Joshua Kimmich will not be within reach this summer, as Bayern Munich look set to demand a hefty fee for the 29-year-old. With contract talks on the horizon, they believe he could end up renewing with German Rekordmeister.

Kimmich is believed to be Xavi Hernandez’s preference for the pivot role this summer, as they look to strengthen in midfield. Bayern are confident that they can renew his deal in the summer, and while their strategy has been that they will sell players they cannot renew, they would rather lose Kimmich for free next year than strike a cut-price deal, as per Sport.

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Of course Barcelona would no doubt be delighted to reruit him for free next year if that did occur, but they fear he will end up renewing with Bayern. The reason being, Barcelona currently are not in a position to put in a competitive bid, the Catalan daily citing that €35-40m offer is not an option, let alone the €50m Bayern could seek. One of the key reasons that Barcelona were in with a shout was that Xavi Hernandez was in situ, but his departure announcement led Kimmich to consider a renewal.

While Xavi may prefer Kimmich, certainly he is not the profile of midfielder that points to a change from what Barcelona have. The pivot of their dreams would be able to shut down sufficient amount of attacks on their own to allow other midfielders to get forward, while Kimmich has always operated with a more defensive partner in the middle. Earlier in the season it was reported that Kimmich had doubts about their financial capacity to sign him, and it seems he may have been right.