The situation in the centre of defence is beginning to be a real headache for Hansi Flick and FC Barcelona. At the beginning of the summer, the Catalan club tried to get rid of several defenders due to the overbooking in the position, but in the final stretch of the transfer market, the German coach's squad has been short of players in this area of the pitch due to injuries and transfers.
Clément Lenglet and Mika Faye left Barcelona to go to Atlético de Madrid and Rennes, respectively, while Ronald Araújo and Andreas Christensen suffered physical problems that will keep them off the pitch for several months. Eric García has joined the list of injured players, who suffers from plantar fasciitis in his right foot when his future at the club is in doubt due to the interest of Girona.
In the midst of this context, where Pau Cubarsí and Iñigo Martínez are the only centre-backs available in the first team today, Can Barça tried to acquire the services of Jonathan Tah, an old acquaintance of Hansi Flick, to reinforce the position, but Bayer Leverkusen closed the door on his departure. The Catalans activated their 'plan B' and began to make inquiries for Mohamed Simakan, although they have received negative news about it.
And the fact is that Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr would like to give a quality jump to the centre of their rearguard and would have set their sights on the RB Leipzig player. The Saudi club are said to be on track to reach an agreement with PSG for Milan Skriniar, but given the Slovenian's lack of response, they have reportedly started the process to incorporate the 24-year-old Frenchman into Luis Castro's ranks, seriously 'threatening' the Blaugranas' options, as reported by Fabrizio Romano.
A complicated operation
However, the Frenchman's operation is not at all simple. The Red Bulls are aware of the importance of the player in Marco Rose's scheme and have reportedly valued his transfer at a figure of around 50 million euros, an amount that does not represent a problem for the Saudi petrodollars but does for a Barça whose economy is in a delicate state, so his signing could only be possible if the club closes the agreement with Nike before the end of the transfer market. Now, the possibilities are increasingly scarce.