1. Barcelona is facing one of its most important weeks in recent years as a number of critical decisions are due to be made at the Camp Nou, decisions that will affect it in the coming seasons.
First of all, after several weeks in which it was reported in Europe that Frankie de Jong was leaving for Manchester United because of the economic pit in which Barça is located, Barcelona president Joan Laporta has insisted that the club have no intention of letting the talented midfielder leave.
Sources told ESPN earlier this week that United had agreed with Barça on a transfer fee of 65 million not including bonuses but now, the president sounds different from the line they have voiced in Catalonia in the last two months.
"Frankie de Jong is a Barça player and he is considered one of the best players in the world," Laporta told reporters yesterday at Masa. "We know other clubs want him, not just Manchester United and we have no intention of selling him.
I have a feeling the actor wants to stay.
"He's happy at Barça and I'm going to do everything I can to keep Frankie."
De Jong holds a contract at Barça until June 2026 and has publicly said he wants to stay at the Camp Nou.
Barça paid € 75 million for De Jong when he signed him from Ajax in 2019 with another € 11 million in bonuses.
According to new reports, De Jong may agree to cut his salary and extend his contract for another year.
De Jong.
Will he stay in Barcelona in the end?
2. The one who has been employing Barça for a long time is Osman Dembele.
After long months in which he did not want to extend his contract at Barcelona, the Frenchman changed his mind, much because of Xavi's ambitions and his flourishing under the legendary former player.
Dembele scored two goals and netted 13 more in 32 appearances in all competitions last season.
"He played at a very high level in the second half of the season and the coach is really happy with him," Laporta said. "If not, then no."
Rafinha.
Want to get to Spain, Photo: Gettyimages
Meanwhile, Barça sold 10% of their TV rights last week for € 207.5 million and sources reported on Friday that the club aims to sell another 15% of their rights to further ease the financial situation and raise up to € 200m for transfers.
If the plan does materialize, Barça plan to sign Rafinha, the Brazilian winger from Leeds United, in the coming days.
According to reports, Chelsea are willing to pay £ 60 million for the player who prefers to come to Barcelona.
Barça have also been chasing Robert Lewandowski for more than a month and this week made a third bid for Bayern Munich - over € 40 million - for the Poland striker.
"We know he has publicly stated that he wants to come to Barça and that is flattering to us but we have a lot of respect for Bayern, one of the best clubs in the world," Laporta added.
Lewandowski.
When will Bayern release him ?, Photo: AFP
4. And with all this news not enough, Barça have announced that this week they will finally introduce the Danish and Chelsea national team stopper Andreas Christiansen and AC Milan midfielder Frank Cassia in recent years.
The players who signed their terms at Barça several months ago and arrive in free transfer were waiting for Barça to be able to sign them in the squad and now that money has been freed up to transfer their contracts to the Spanish association, they will be officially introduced as the club's new players.
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