Barcelona’s president has indicated how the La Liga giants plan to use the £198million raised from the sale of Neymar.
The Catalan club were forced to let their Brazilian superstar leave the club after Paris St Germain matched his release clause.
While Barcelona were incredibly unhappy to lose one of their star assets, it has put them in a strong position to bring in some new recruits.
Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho, Borussia Dortmund’s Ousmane Dembele, Monaco forward Kylian Mbappe, Chelsea’s Eden Hazard, Paulo Dybala of Juventus and PSG’s Julian Draxler have all been mooted as potential options.
Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu has revealed the club are actively working on signing players.
‘We thought there was a chance that Neymar could go and for that reason we raised his buy-out clause,’ he was quoted by Marca as saying on Monday.
‘Now we are looking for alternatives and whatever happened here it is in the end good for Barca because if he stayed then we have a great player and if he goes then we bring in a lot of money.
‘The 222 million euros we will spend sensibly, strictly and wisely. It will be used to improve the club and with this it means that we are in a great position to sign players.’
Coutinho in the player being most strongly linked with a move to the Nou Camp with the Liverpool talisman having been on their radar for some time.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has insisted the player isn’t for sale but with reports of a bid in the region of £90m, the club may override their manager’s decision.
Coutinho is understood to be happy at Anfield, having only signed a new contract earlier this year. However, the lure of the Nou Camp will be strong.
While Bartomeu wouldn’t be drawn on precisely who Barcelona are working on, he did say with assurance that there would be new arrivals this summer.
‘This year there will not be a trident but we can now talk about a team. We will bring in players, the first has been Semedo, but there will be more,’ he said.
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