The defeat received by AS Monaco in the Joan Gamper Trophy dispute set off alarm bells at FC Barcelona. Despite Hansi Flick's insistence on improving the physical work of his squad, the Catalans, full of casualties, were surpassed by the Monegasques in this section and it was clear that they need to go up one more point to be able to compete in Europe. Deco is aware of this situation, but the club decided to 'freeze' the option of a reinforcement for the midfield to put all its efforts into the arrival of a left winger.

Although Can Barça remain firm in their position, the Barça offices have not lost contact with N'golo Kanté, a footballer who is planning to leave Saudi Arabia this summer and whose services have aroused the interest of several clubs. However, the culés are well positioned in case they have to act at the last minute, with the Frenchman being the one chosen by the team as he is a player very much liked by the sports director, who already explored his signing last year but it did not come to fruition. to 'forge' due to the lack of salary limit.

For this reason, once his contract with Chelsea expired, the player allowed himself to be tempted by the millions from the Arabian Peninsula and headed to Al-Ittihad. However, the player does not feel comfortable in his current team and would like to return to the Old Continent, where he still has a poster after showing a great performance at Euro 2024, establishing himself as one of the most prominent figures in France. Therefore, in addition to the Catalans, both West Ham and Atlético de Madrid would also have contacted the footballer to find out the conditions of his transfer.

Despite this, Al-Ittihad does not intend to get rid of N'golo and, to date, has not opened the exit door for him, although the pressure from the midfielder in the final stretch of the transfer market could 'unlock' the situation his. According to 'SPORT', the Barça team trusts its current midfield and considers that the level could rise with the returns of Pedri, De Jong and Gavi, who are recovering from their respective injuries, and with the improved performance of Gündogan, who is still He's a little out of rhythm after returning from vacation. Furthermore, Fermín López finished 'exploding' at the Olympic Games and will be at Flick's disposal for the second day of LaLiga.

The key day to activate 'operation Kanté'

Thus, next Saturday, August 17, the day of the duel between the Catalans and Valencia, seems like the date on which Barça will make a decision regarding the arrival of a midfielder. It is expected that in the league debut at Mestalla, Marc Bernal will once again have stripes in the midfield. The 17-year-old player was one of the highlights of the preseason, but the club does not want to burn him out, so, after the clash against the Che team, the option of incorporating Kanté, whose profile is not in the list, will be studied. Ciudad Condal and that could be the difference between 'shine' in Europe or consummating a new failure at a continental level.