Andreas Christensen's injury has been a major blow to FC Barcelona's planning. The Dane will be sidelined for between one and two months, leaving the Catalans with no chance of cashing in on his transfer and weakening a defence that now only has three centre-backs. For this reason, the arrival of a right-back in Barcelona is beginning to gain momentum at the club, as it would allow Jules Koundé to return to his natural position to cover for the '15'.
And the fact is that Hansi Flick is short of players in the centre of defence. Pau Cubarsí, Eric García and Iñigo Martínez are the only options that the Blaugrana coach has at the moment. With Saudi Arabia putting pressure on the Basque defender to sign him, fear is beginning to creep into the German's body, who does not want to be left without one of his most reliable alternatives in the position in the absence of Christensen and Araújo.
In this context, the newspaper 'El Nacional.cat' has reported that the German has already informed the sports management of the need to find a reliable replacement for Jules Koundé, since, as of today, Héctor Fort is the only right-back available in the squad and the youth player does not have the confidence of his coach. For this reason, the names of Marc Pubill and Joao Cancelo are beginning to gain ground in the Catalan offices.
Cancelo's return has been one of the priorities of the Blaugrana entity this summer. The Portuguese convinced the club during his loan last season and Deco promised him that he would do everything possible to make his return to Barcelona a reality. However, the high demands of his operation, added to Al-Hilal's insistence on signing him, have complicated his arrival. It is in this scenario that Pubill's option has 'burst in' as a 'hidden' option for the position, since the great level shown in Almería and at the Olympic Games has caught the attention of the culés, who see him as a very good 'low cost' alternative.
'Fair play', the great obstacle
Although the Catalan institution is aware of the importance of this reinforcement, the reality is that the club's economic problems make the incorporation of one of these names very 'uphill'. From the offices of Spotify Camp Nou they have put all their efforts into freeing up wages to be able to undertake the pending registrations and signings, but the operation has been delayed more than expected and, today, the landing of a right back would not be on the entity's list of priorities.