A South American centre-back, rumoured to be a possible Barça 'hidden' option for the next winter

The FC Barcelona board continues to comb the market in search of 'low cost' alternatives for 2025. The latest rumours point to the alleged offer of a South American centre-back, Jhon Lucumí, to the Blaugrana team. The 26-year-old defender has been performing at a very good level with Bologna and his transfer would not represent a complex operation for the Barça board. In addition, the team has shown some signs of weakness in the back that show the lack of depth in the squad.

And the fact is that, beyond the excellent tactical work carried out by the team to constantly leave their rivals offside, the last few games have shown some defensive gaps that worry the Barça coaching staff. Barça maintains an average of one goal conceded per game (19 goals against in the same number of appearances) both in the League and in the Champions League, a statistic clearly overshadowed by the impressive Barça offensive production.

In this sense, Hansi Flick does not rule out bringing in another centre-back, especially if, in the end, names like Eric García and Andreas Christensen, both with options to leave in January, end up stepping aside. The team will soon recover Ronald Araújo, but two winter losses would force the board to go for another defender in the next transfer window. There, the name of Lucumí could gain ground as a possible 'hidden' player.

Jhon Lucumí, a centre-back with a Barça profile

The Colombian international made his Champions League debut this week as a goalscorer in Bologna's 1-2 defeat and has been a regular for the 'rossoblú' team since his arrival in the summer of 2022 from Genk. Bologna paid 8 million euros for his transfer and set his release clause at 25 million, an affordable amount for the Catalans' finances, as long as the club manages to return to the 1/1 rule before the end of the year.

Standing at 1.87 m tall, Lucumí stands out for his physical strength, solvency in the aerial game and order in marking. In addition, he is very efficient with the ball, being the defender with the best percentage of success in terms of long passes (74.2%) and percentage of duels won (68%) in Serie A so far. These characteristics make him a centre-back with a Barça profile, although he is a player who is looking for his first experience at a big European club.