It's over, a not-so-happy season and Barcelona have let the fans down. However, the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, and the expectations of Barcelona fans for the new season are still high, and the team will also usher in a change. Now, Deco and Xavi are planning for the new season, and the first task is to win the two big players in Spain. In addition, due to financial constraints, Barcelona are likely to let go of several core players, of which Araujo, De Jong and Raphinha are typical representatives.
Real Madrid is about to usher in the Mbappe era, which puts a lot of pressure on Barcelona, and the team will struggle to compete with the Galaxy without a change. In fact, Barcelona are not too happy with the current squad, and Deco has recently met with a number of players' agents to try to reverse the decline. However, Barca's financial situation is not optimistic, and the team may have to sell Araujo, Frenkie de Jong and Raphinha, and the counterparts will be Alejandro Baena and Nico Williams.
According to Le Monde Sport, Barcelona are very interested in Baena and Williams, with Deco on the rampage of the two Spain internationals. In fact, it is also a potential void filled, as Barcelona are keen to deal with De Jong, and Raphinha also has the potential to cash in. As for Araujo, it is purely a desperate move to ease the financial pressure, and Bayern are currently interested in Araujo, and De Jong is also targeted by Manchester United.
This season, the 21-year-old Nico Williams has been in impressive form, scoring seven goals and providing 15 assists in 35 appearances. Barça's interest in Williams is no secret, after Barça "delusionally" snatched Williams without signing, but still underestimated the loyalty of the Basque players. In the end, Williams chose to renew his contract, which runs until 2027, but the player has a 50 million liquidated damages clause.
The 22-year-old has also had an extraordinary season, scoring five goals and registering 16 assists in 43 appearances and is currently top of La Liga with 13 assists (Williams is second with 10). Thanks to his performances, Baena was selected for the Spanish national team, where he will travel to this summer's European Championships.
Baena has repeatedly "courted" Barcelona in public, and the cooperation between the two sides seems to be a simple matter. However, Villarreal's asking price could embarrass Barça, with the player worth 25 million, but the Yellow Submarine wants to recoup at least 55 million euros. At the moment, Deco has met with Baena's agent, and Barça wants to lower the price.
Speaking of Baena, there's another interesting fact. In the match against Real Madrid, Baena attacked Valverde's wife and unborn child with vicious words, and as a result, Real Madrid's iron man rushed to the Yellow Submarine bus after the game and beat Baena violently. If Baena does join Barcelona, the smell of gunpowder in the national derby will be even stronger, and the feud between Baena and Valverde will be endless.
Of course, this can only be regarded as a "sweet dream" now, because it is difficult for Baena to join Barcelona, after all, counting Nico Williams, Barcelona has to prepare a budget of at least 100 million euros. This amount, obviously, Barcelona is under a lot of pressure!