Barcelona are always active on the market, almost a "tradition" of the club which has already planned to strengthen the team also in the summer of 2023.
After the big changes in 2022 in all departments, Jordi Cruyff and Mateu Alemany together with Xavi and obviously the president Joan Laporta are preparing the strategy for next summer.
A priority of Barcelona now concerns the contracts to be extended: next on the list after Gavi and Araujo are Sergi Roberto, Alejandro Balde and Ousmane Dembélé.
Sergi Roberto's new deal is almost agreed on a one-year extension valid until June 2024, while Alejandro Balde will sign a new five-year contract with a release clause which will be for €500m or €1B, final detail to be agreed and then it will be signed.
Full agreement reached and sealed for Sergi Roberto to extend his contract as documents are now being prepared by Barcelona 🚨🔵🔴 #FCB
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) February 13, 2023
New deal will be valid until June 2024 — Xavi asked the club to extend Sergi’s contract and it’s now 100% done. pic.twitter.com/O7b1UDDyF4
Negotiations will soon begin for Ousmane Dembélé, as current deal expires in June 2024 and Barcelona do not want to risk losing him as was already about to happen in June 2021.
In the summer it will then be possible to explore new signings for various positions: Sergio Busquets will have to decide whether he wants to continue at Barça or try an experience in other countries with the Inter Miami proposal already on the table, the club will let Busquets decide but they are following Zubimendi from Real Sociedad and Marcelo Brozovic of Inter Milan as midfielders.
Ruben Neves was offered but Xavi prioritized other players; in the meantime, Barcelona will follow the free agents market as always also in that position, so surprises cannot be ruled out.
Barça will also still monitor the situation of Sofyan Amrabat, already on the list in January and appreciated internally at the club.
One of Barcelona's priorities is to resolve the right back issue in the summer because Sergino Dest will return from loan to Milan and a solution will have to be found; but above all a new right back is needed after Hector Bellerin joined Sporting Lisbon.
Inigo Martinez remains on the options list as new center back, Barcelona must decide whether to proceed or not.
Then there will be the moment of decisions in attack: a backup striker for Lewandowski will probably be needed, for example Brazilian star Vitor Roque is appreciated but it's not an easy deal and there are also other options.
And a new winger? Much will depend on Ansu Fati's future to be decided in the next months and... also on Financial Fair Play, a crucial factor that has been slowing down the Barcelona market for some time.
It will be important to understand its developments in order to plan Barça's real investments in the summer of 2023.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
