SETTABLOID

Barcelona face an important summer ahead where they will need to make several sales to improve their Financial Fair Play situation so that they can sign their intended targets.

The Centre-back department is seen as an area where cuts could be made due to the sheer number of options in the position. And, one name whose future has been called into question is that of Inigo Martinez.

The 32-year-old veteran was signed only last summer on a free transfer from Athletic Club with the Centre-back signing a two-year contract with an option for an additional twelve months.

However, Barça registered his contract for only one year with La Liga due to Financial Fair Play issues. As such, the club would need to re-register him from scratch this summer.

Given the Catalans’ current situation, however, it is being suggested that they have decided to part ways with Martinez as it would free up some space on the wage bill for them.

In fact, it was even claimed that Barça themselves would help the Spaniard find a new club where his financial and sporting ambitions would be met.

However, a fresh report from Mundo Deportivo now claims that Martinez does not plan on leaving Barcelona in the summer transfer window.

While he has battled with fitness problems on occasions, the former Athletic Club defender has largely done well when fit and available and has made an impression in his debut season at the club.

As such, Martinez is believed to have the approval of Barcelona and is not considering the prospect of a summer departure despite reports suggesting otherwise.

In that scenario, though, Barça might have to look at some of the other Centre-backs to sell and generate revenue while freeing up space on the salary bill.

Paris Saint-Germain boss Luis Enrique has said that former Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembele is technically impossible to stop.

The 26-year-old, who has scored just one goal this season while providing 13 assists across all competitions, has been an important figure in the first team fold since leaving Barcelona for his home country,

Speaking after his side’s 1-0 win over Rennes in the French Cup semi-final, Enrique spoke on different subjects, including his take on Dembele, the UEFA Champions League tie against Barcelona as well as an update on Warren Zaire-Emery.

Speaking about the former Barcelona forward, Enrique was quoted by Mundo Deportivo as saying, “Dembele is a technically almost unbeatable player with both legs.

You don’t know if he comes out on the left or the right. I think that now, playing inside, we are going to find a better version of Ousmane.”

 The PSG boss added that although his final output is still lacking, the player will eventually improve.

I’m not worried that the last shot is a bit accelerated. He will make it better. He is a player who scores many goals. 

“What Dembele already generates, just with his actions, is very positive for the team. He is an unstoppable player,” he added.

FC Barcelona are looking to strengthen several positions going into the next transfer window, but the area that needs strengthening the most at this point in time is that of the midfield pivot.

This was one of the most prominent weaknesses for the Catalan team this season, and as Oriol Romeu is expected to leave the club this summer, this position is going to get further weakened.

As SPORT has reported, there are several candidates that Barcelona are considering for this position, but there are factors that make the pursuit of each of these players problematic for the Catalans.

For instance, one of the options that emerged for the Blaugranes in the last few weeks was that of Dion Lopy, the Almeria midfielder who was believed to be one of the cheaper options available. However, his good performances have significantly increased his price.

Barcelona were thinking of getting him for around €10 million, but there have already been offers of around €20 made for him. Thus, he is no longer an interesting option for the Catalans club.

Another player who has been closely linked with the blue and garnet club is the Girona captain, Aleix Garcia. However, he is also losing candidacy at Barcelona, but not because of any shortcomings in his game, but mainly because Barcelona are looking for a more physical midfielder or a destroyer, a profile to which Garcia does not really fit. This is also the case with Mats Wieffer.

Amadou Onana still remains a highly popular option for Deco, but Barcelona will have to pay up to €60 million for him, which makes a move for him complicated to begin with. Khephren Thuram is considered to be below Onana in terms of potential and is also not seen as a natural midfield pivot by the Catalans.

Meanwhile, Martin Zubimendi remains Xavi’s favorite to reinforce this position, but he is also going to cost the same as Onana. Thus, Barcelona will have to keep working in the market to strengthen this core area, and will likely have to spend a significant amount for this purpose.

In a week, Barcelona will play one of their biggest matches of the season when they take on PSG in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals.

The game will be played away at Parc des Princes and as preparations for the big match get underway, Barça are sweating over the fitness of three of their key players.

Indeed, Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, and Andreas Christensen are recovering from fitness issues and there are still some question marks over their availability against PSG, especially the former two.

As such, Barcelona plan on playing a training match this weekend in order to assess the fitness level and the readiness of Pedri, De Jong, and Christensen for the PSG clash, reports Laia Tudel.

Both Pedri and De Jong have been out for a little more than a month through injury. The Catalans are erring on the side of caution with the former given his injury history. As for the Dutchman, his recovery timeline puts him in the fray for PSG.

As reported recently, Barça expect the duo to resume team training this week and the plan is to test their fitness in an internal training match.

As for Christensen, he is dealing with an Achilles tendon discomfort from before the international break and has missed two games, although the expectation is that he will be ready to face PSG next week.

The training match, thus, will provide a good exercise for the three players to test themselves and their readiness for the high-profile encounter in a week.

It must be noted that Barcelona are not involved in any matches this weekend as La Liga takes a break due to the Copa del Rey final, paving the way for extra work sessions and the training match for the Catalans.

Guille Fernandez became a hot topic at Barcelona this week as he broke the record of Lamine Yamal by becoming the youngest player to play for Barça Athletic.

Fernandez appeared in Barça Athletic’s game against CA Osasuna Promesas at the age of just 15 years 9 months and 13 days.

In doing so, the youngster broke the record previously held by Lamine Yamal, who had featured for Barça Athletic at the age of 15 years and 297 days.

Barcelona have had no shortage of talents coming out of La Masia and making an impression in the first-team this season.

The likes of Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsi and Hector Fort have all made significant impacts in the first-team this season, with Fort even becoming a target for French champions Paris Saint-Germain.

In Guille Fernandez, Barcelona may have found another youth prodigy ready to make his presence felt in the senior team.

A central midfielder by trade, the 15-year-old is regarded as one of the top talents at La Masia. He has already trained with the first team multiple times under the leadership of Xavi Hernandez.

Fernandez has even impressed onlookers with his performances during training, which should help further his cause.

Having already broken one of the records held by Yamal, Guille’s aim will be to make a breakthrough in the first team and become the youngest player to ever feature for Barcelona.

However, with Barcelona still involved in the title race, Xavi is unlikely to experiment much with his squad, though he has never backed down when it comes to giving chances to youngsters.

One factor which could favour Guille is the title race. If Barcelona fail to keep up with Real Madrid at the top, Xavi could be convinced to try out talents such as Guille and other young players in the team.

Until then, the 15-year-old must continue his progress at Barça Athletic and push for a place in the senior team next season.

The situation surrounding Xavi Hernandez and his future at FC Barcelona has been dominating the headlines in recent weeks.

The 44-year-old has already confirmed his decision to step down from his managerial position at the end of the season.

However, since that announcement in January, Barça have been on a terrific run of form, prompting the club administration, led by president Joan Laporta, to make all efforts to convince him to continue.

The general indication has been that despite the efforts of the club, Xavi does not plan on staying. But those inside the dressing room are seeing things differently.

Indeed, as per journalist Alex Pintanel, the Barcelona locker room is growing in confidence and belief with each passing day that Xavi will stay on as the manager beyond this season.

As per the update, there are footballers within the dressing room who believe that the 44-year-old club legend will change his decision and continue as manager.

The players see Xavi working with renewed energy and vigour in recent weeks, with a different spirit. They feel that the former midfielder has liberated himself and the team from the pressure, which is supported by the upward trend in performances and results.

Without a doubt, the Barcelona team has taken a step forward in terms of their on-pitch displays since Xavi’s announcement in late January – eight wins, three draws, zero losses, 22 goals scored and only seven conceded.

As mentioned earlier, the Barcelona hierarchy led by club president Laporta himself, wishes for Xavi to continue. Vice-president Rafa Yuste as well as sporting director Deco support that view and have spoken in public about the same.

Xavi, for his part, has continued to say no to such a possibility, although some of his recent responses when asked about his future suggest there may be a change of stance.

However, as per reports, the 44-year-old will likely set some conditions if he is to reverse his decision and stay on as manager.

Either way, there is a sense of belief within the dressing room and the club that Xavi might continue, especially if the Blaugrana end the season strongly.

After a harrowing defeat to Villarreal, which saw Barcelona concede five goals on home soil, manager Xavi Hernandez announced his decision to leave at the end of the season.

At that point in time, there was a widespread belief that it was perhaps best for both parties to go their separate ways, given Barça’s string of poor performances.

However, since then, the Catalan giants have experienced a resurgence in their form, not losing a single game and throwing shades of the team that Xavi steered to a La Liga trophy.

Owing to the newfound stability in Barcelona’s performances, Joan Laporta and co. appear to be in favour of Xavi’s continuity, so much so that Laporta publicly declared his intention of retaining the 44-year-old coach.

While Xavi has shown no inkling of reversing his decision, according to SER, at the club, they would never rule out his stay depending on the results of the season.

If Barcelona perform impressively in the Champions League and execute a late title charge for La Liga, Xavi may be encouraged to stick around.

Barcelona continues to be hopeful because a comparable instance happened in the past.

President Josep Luis Nunez spent eight more years with the Blaugranes after he had announced his departure three days before Barcelona became the inaugural champions in 1992.

As such, if Barcelona triumph over PSG in the quarter-finals, defeat one of Borussia Dortmund or Atletico Madrid in the semi-finals and end up lifting the trophy at Wembley, history could repeat itself.

Time will tell if Xavi opts to extend his tenure with Barcelona or stays true to his word. The upcoming clash against PSG could provide an answer.

Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski is set to play in El Clásico against Real Madrid on April 21 after his one-game suspension was confirmed by La Liga’s competition committee.

The Polish international was shown a yellow card for timewasting during his substitution in the win over Las Palmas on Saturday and there was some speculation that the striker could be handed a two-game ban for intentionally getting himself suspended for the clash against Cádiz so he could be available for the trip to Madrid, but no further action was taken and the standard one-game suspension was upheld.

Lewandowski is one of three Barça stars not available to face Cádiz due to yellow card accumulation, as João Cancelo and Iñigo Martínez are also banned after being booked at the weekend.

The three players will be available for El Clásico, and perhaps more importantly will not play extra minutes in between the two Champions League quarter-final clashes with Paris Saint-Germain.

Barcelona find themselves in a tricky situation heading into the summer with regard to their managerial position.

Xavi Hernandez has announced that he will leave once the season is over and has showed no indication that his decision will change, even though the club administration, led by Joan Laporta, is eager to convince him to stay.

A number of possible replacement options have been linked, such as Hansi Flick, Thomas Tuchel, Roberto De Zerbi, and Julian Nagelsmann, but none of them generates total consensus at the club.

Amidst all this, a new name has been added to Barcelona’s agenda as a prospective candidate to replace Xavi in the summer.

Indeed, as per SPORT, Barcelona are attentive to the situation of AFC Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola heading into the summer.

Iraola, 41, a former Athletic Club footballer, has been in management for six years now, having started out at AEK Larnaca in Cyprus, before coaching CD Mirandes in the Spanish lower decision for a year.

Iraola then spent three years as the manager of Rayo Vallecano between 2020 and 2023, where his work earned recognition, leading to a move to Bournemouth last summer.

Upon arrival, many predicted Iraola’s Cherries to get relegated from the Premier League, but the 41-year-old has done a solid job in England thus far and is earning rave reviews for his work.

Iraola’s Bournemouth are currently 11th in the Premier League, ahead of Chelsea, and just seven points shy of sixth-placed Manchester United and four behind West Ham United in seventh.

As such, a possible European football spot could be on the cards for Bournemouth if they finish the season strongly.

Not only with the team’s position, but the work that Iraola has done can also be gauged by the improvement shown by some of his players, such as Dominic Solanke.

The striker is enjoying his best-ever campaign in the Premier League with 16 goals and is the joint second-highest scorer along with Mohamed Salah and Ollie Watkins.

A number of top clubs across Europe have taken note of Iraola and Barcelona are also understood to be keeping tabs on the 41-year-old.

For now, though, Laporta & co. remain intent on convincing Xavi to stay put.