Barcelona need sales in order to make signings – it is a line that has been repeated ad nauseam by the local and international press this summer, with the only statement to the contrary coming from President Joan Laporta. However the assets that would allow them to make those signings are not exactly willing to do Barcelona’s bidding at this point.
The prime example is perhaps Raphinha. The Brazilian was brought in for over €60m from Leeds United two summers ago, yet at no point has he been a guaranteed starter for more than a month or two, competing with injuries, Ousmane Dembele, and then Lamine Yamal.
With Barcelona looking to bring in one of Nico Williams or Dani Olmo this summer, that would more or less rule Raphinha out of a starting spot, yet Marca say that the 27-year-old is not even responding to the offers that have arrived at his door from Saudi Arabia and the Premier League. He continues to work hard in training, and has shown no desire to leave.
If Olmo or Williams were to come in, they would be the third major signing in the wide forward positions in the three seasons Laporta has been back at the helm, following on from Ferran Torres and Raphinha. They both have three years remaining on their deals, and little intention of moving on soon.
Meanwhile, Vitor Roque is another recent signing that has found his name on the chopping block this summer. The 19-year-old arrived in January for €30m, and yet after just 353 minutes, has seen himself go from number nine of the future to persona non grata. Barcelona would reportedly like to sell him too, but Roque also would be well within his rights to point to the remaining seven years on his deal.
Ultimately, Barcelona are losing trust. All three players were given a supposed project, a route to stardom, and asked to make sacrifices financially to arrive at the club. Yet a season, if not less, later, it has been seen that either those plans were disingenuous, or Barcelona cannot be trusted to keep to their word – the result is the same.
Barcelona will put no shortage of time into their branding and image, but no matter how loudly they shout about identity from Parc Guell or La Sagrera, the echo of their actions will continue drown out their cries. Naturally, the sun, the sand, wages and prestige will always give Barcelona a gravitational pull most clubs can only dream of.
Yet if they continue to sell dreams only to try and take advantage of their footballers, increasingly they will find it harder to convince players that their offer has other advantages beyond the more lucrative offers elsewhere. When the time comes that Barcelona do need to have an honest conversation about the future of a star, the chance of their players responding in good faith looks slimmer every season. Barcelona are writing quite the collection of cautionary tales about signing a deal with Laporta – soon the body of evidence will be hard to ignore, despite the romance of signing for them.