Bayern humiliation to prompt Barca clear-out?

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Speculation suggests the club are ready for a purge

The fallout from Barcelona’s humiliating defeat continues with the focus now seemingly turning from the management to the players.

It’s obvious Quique Setien’s time is up at the club, and the only question on that front now is who will replace the 61-year-old in the Camp Nou hotseat.

Perhaps more interesting is who will follow Setien out of the exit door.

Gerard Pique pretty much volunteered in his post-match comments, and there’s speculation Barca are ready to ditch a lot of players in response to their latest crisis.

According to Sport, Barcelona have put most of their squad up for sale following the 8-2 defeat to Bayern. The report reckons the only players not on their list are Marc Andre ter Stegen, Clement Lenglet, Frenkie de Jong and Lionel Messi.

There’s the obvious names such as Ivan Rakitic, Junior Firpo, Neto and so on, but Barca are also willing to let Pique, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Luis Suarez go. Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele are also up for grabs at the right price, according to the report.

Mundo Deportivo are also running a similar report on Sunday. However, they reckon the untouchables are Ter Stegen, De Jong, Messi, Ansu Fati and Riqui Puig and add “the rest can go if there is a good offer.”

The report talks about Barca being willing to sell Umtiti, Suarez, Dembele and Rakitic and also talk about how they are willing to discuss a transfer for Alba as his performances have not been up to scratch.

Over as AS there is also talk of an exodus and news that seven players definitely will not play for the club next season. The players in question are Athur, Junior, Rakitic, Martin Braithwaite, Umtiti, Vidal and Dembélé.

The report adds that moves for the majority of the rest of the squad have not been ruled out but are not a priority for now, while Fati, Puig, Araujo, Miralem Pjanic, Francisco Trincao and Pedri will all be in the first-team squad next season to freshen things up.

Of course Barca have been willing to sell some of their players for a while now but are finding it tough. Stars such as Rakitic, Vidal and Umtiti are paid extremely well at the Camp Nou and have spoken out about how they don’t particularly want to leave.

The Covid-19 crisis has also affected most clubs financially which will have a big impact on the transfer market and Barca’s plans to rebuild their squad in time for next season.

Source: barcablaugranes.com