De Jong signing signals major summer Camp Nou exits
The offloading of big name players next season was one of Bartomeu's arguments to seal the deal. Rakitic, Coutinho and Umtiti are the players signaled for a possible departure.
Barcelona finally got their man with Frenkie De Jong moving to the Catalan capital on a five year 75 million euro deal. The Camp Nou side were subject to fierce competition to secure the Ajax players signature from the likes of Manchester City and PSG and the 21-year-old apparently had initial hesitation on moving to Barcelona where it would appear the Catalan side have a certain 'overbooking' in the central positions. De Jong was worried with a rich raft of talent in midfield the Dutch player felt he may be pegged back by the likes of Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic, Arturo Vidal, Arthur and Coutinho.
Bartomeu was anxious to quell the 21-year-old players fears citing the examples of Arthur and Lenglet who have gradually eased their way into many starting line-ups for Ernesto Valverde but such was the level eagerness to secure the services of De Jong that Bartomeu assured the Dutch player that the club would offload some midfielders to ease De Jong's passage into the Barça first team.
Exit door
Unintentionally Bartomeu may have rocked the boat in the Camp Nou dressing room with analysts stating that Rakitic, Coutinho and Umtiti are the three players believed to be close to a possible Camp Nou exit next summer. Rakitic is still waiting for a promised contract renewal. Barça's most expensive player Coutinho has largely been disappointing and if his situation between now and the end of the season, the club may look for a move. The Barça sporting directors have been frustrated with Samuel Umtiti as injury and a reluctance to undergo an operation have seen the French player deliver little playing time after a contract multi-million renewal last summer.
To free-up salary outgoings, Barça appear set to let the likes of Cillessen, Malcom and Denis Suarez move and these departures along with the recent sales of Paco Alcacer to Dortmund and Munir to Sevilla will go some way in helping balance the Camp Nou books.
