BARCELONA
Abidal and Planes tasked with finding Barça misfits new homes
Aleix, Douglas and Rafinha could be culled as Ernesto Valverde asks for a small squad ahead of Barcelona's preseason trip to the United States.
Barcelona return to training on Monday and will fly to the United States on Tuesday where they will kick off the next phase of their preseason. Ernesto Valverde has just over a day to assess the situation and give his list of players who he doesn't count on and who won't travel. Eric Abidal and Ramon Planes, his assistant, will be busy finding new homes for these players as Barça's squad for 2018-19 season becomes clearer.
One of the first likely to leave is Aleix Vidal and his move to Sevilla is very advanced. Although it has been advanced since Christmas and the only thing stalling matters is the bad blood between the players' agent and the club's board. Douglas, who has a deal until 2019, could also leave on loan and Rafinha has been drawing interest from Fenerbahçe amongst others. The midfielder, along with Munir, has been drawing the most attention in the transfer market.
Marlon is still waiting for what looked like an imminent move to the Premier League and Adrian Órtola, Sergi Samper and Paco Alcácer have offers too. Jair Mina will arrive at the club on Tuesday to see what they have in store for his nephew Yerry with a link to the Premier League touted as a possibility although recent reports suggest he is ready to reject offers in order to stay and fight for his place at the club. Lucas Digne and Alcácer will only be allowed to leave if there is a good proposal and the case of Andre Gomes continues unresolved despite recent Arsenal rumours.
