Barcelona’s humiliating 8-2 Champions League quarter-final defeat to Bayern Munich has reportedly sparked drastic action at the Nou Camp.
According to Spanish outlet Sport, all but five of the club’s first team squad are now up for sale this summer.
With United looking to strengthen this summer, we thought it was worth looking at. Are any of the available players of interest to United?
Ageing high-earners
The issue for United is that Barcelona seem largely interest in shifting ageing, high earning players off their wage bill.
Frenkie de Jong would be a sensational signing, but he is named in the report among the ‘untouchable’ players the Catalan club aren’t willing to sell.
Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele have both been named by president Josep Maria Bartomeu as not for sale.
The likes of Gerard Pique, Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez are those most at risk.
Under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, United have made a conscious effort to move away from established, older, big names and towards younger, hungrier talent.
Former United man Pique probably would be an immediate upgrade on Victor Lindelof, but there would be no longevity in that move.
Busquets is still better than Nemanja Matic, but United aren’t going to do a deal for the Spaniard so soon after tying the former Chelsea man down to an extended deal.
In short, Barcelona have a lot of expensive cast-offs up for sale as they seek to lower the wage bill.
These are exactly the type of glamour signings which may have previously enticed Ed Woodward, but since Solskjaer’s arrival, he has taken the club’s transfer policy in a very different direction – thankfully.
Are there any worth having?
Basically, the players Barca want to keep are the only ones which might be worth having.
United have been suckered in and facilitated squad regeneration at Real Madrid and Bayern Munich in recent times with the signings of Angel di Maria and Bastian Schweinsteiger.
If United are serious about getting back where they belong, they can’t seriously consider any of Barcelona’s well-remunerated older pros.
Solskjaer knows that, but the worry is that Woodward has another ‘shivers down their spine’ moment and spends big on an ageing star who boosts shirt sales and Twitter engagement but isn’t a good fit for the team.
United have enough expensive deadwood to get rid of this summer without taking on Barcelona’s as well.
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