Barcelona puts almost half their squad up for sale

Barcelona ‘have put almost half their squad up for sale’ with Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho ‘among 12 players they will listen to offers for this summer.’

The LaLiga club need to raise funds having been hit hard financially by the Covid-19 pandemic and money is also needed to buy Inter Milan striker Lautaro Martinez.

According to Marca, Barcelona will consider offers for a dozen players but acknowledge that not all of them will actually leave the club this summer and some could be loaned out.

As well as Dembele and Coutinho, the players are Ivan Rakitic, Neto, Nelson Semedo, Samuel Umtiti, Junior Firpo, Arturo Vidal, Martin Braithwaite, Carles Alena, Rafinha Alcantara and Jean-Clair Todibo.

Barcelona missed out on the LaLiga title to rivals Real Madrid but have kept faith with manager Quique Setien ahead of the resumption of their Champions League campaign next month.

They play Napoli in the home second leg of their last-16 tie on August 8 with the scores level at 1-1 from the first leg played in February.

Barcelona are determined to sign Argentine striker Martinez but his release clause of around £100million is proving a stumbling block.

Trimming their squad of players who have either been out on loan – such as Coutinho – or are surplus to requirements could help raise some funds to get the deal done.

It is believes Barcelona are confident that all the players will find new clubs with the exceptions of the two most expensive – Dembele and Coutinho.