Barcelona boss Xavi Hernandez has instructed the club to find any exits for seven players after they reached an agreement over the terms of Frenkie de Jong's transfer to Manchester United.
The Catalan club have allowed defender Clement Lenglet to join Tottenham on a season-long loan while they did not extend the short-term contract of Dani Alves, who is now a free agent. Philippe Coutinho has joined Aston Villa in a permanent deal while Adama Traore and Luuk de Jong have both finalised their loan spells at Camp Nou.
Yet Xavi is still hopeful of a clearout among his first-team squad after Barca confirmed their first two summer arrivals with Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie – two deals that have been in place since March – moving to the club as free agents from Chelsea and Milan respectively.
Those two arrivals are part of Xavi's dream Barcelona line-up for this season, which could include up to eight new signings, but more first-team squad exits are needed if the majority of those deals are to come to fruition.
As Diario Sport outlines, the club are prepared to 'force' the departure of three players after instruction from Xavi. Goalkeeper Neto, central defender Samuel Umtiti and striker Martin Braithwaite have all been told they form no part of Xavi's plans and will be allowed to leave for free should suitable clubs come in.
This follows on from a report from Mundo Deportivo, which names the same players as being excluded from the club's pre-season tour, with defender Oscar Mingueza, midfielder Riqui Puig – whose contract at Camp Nou expires next year – and Albanian striker Rey Manaj, who is believed to be on the verge of joining Watford, all being instructed they are not part of the Blaugrana's plans.
Have Your Say! Would any of Barca’s wantaway players be a good fit in the Premier League? Tell us what you think here.
The situation for Memphis Depay is different, although the club will allow the Dutch international – who joined as a free agent last year – to leave should a suitable offer arrive. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ferran Torres were signed in January while Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski are wanted this summer.
As detailed by Sport, Memphis has a 'foot and a half' outside of Barca but the player will not be joining Tottenham. He was not enticed by joining the club and although he prefers to stay at Camp Nou, he values regular first-team football above everything else so should the club's preferred deals come to fruition, he should move on.
