Barcelona have won three of the last four LaLiga titles and made deep UEFA Champions League runs in each of the past two seasons. They still face financial guardrails under LaLiga’s spending rules, a result of the massive losses sustained under the previous president, Josep Maria Bartomeu. Though the situation is improving slowly — revenue is growing and will grow further when the Spotify Camp Nou fully opens in 2026-27 — they’re still very much restricted in what they can do.
Here, Sam Marsden and Gabriele Marcotti sift through some of the big questions facing the club this summer.
This is the sixth in this year’s Keep or Dump series, which examines the most pressing questions facing the Premier League and Europe’s biggest clubs in the summer transfer window. Previous teams: Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City.
– Kirkland: Should Mourinho’s return as Real Madrid coach really be a surprise?
– Marsden: How Barcelona won LaLiga title, and how they can get even better
– LaLiga 2025-26 awards: Yamal, Barcelona reign in Spain again
1. How will Barcelona replace Robert Lewandowski? Should they look internally or sacrifice another player to fund the signing of a big-name center forward?
Despite Lewandowski’s minutes going a bit down this season, Barcelona still flourished. The in-house solution is Ferran Torres, who scored 21 goals this past season — more than Lewandowski. Could he score enough goals if he were the full-time center forward? You’d probably expect him to get to 35 or 40, which should be enough.
The problem is Torres has only one year left on his contract. If Barça commit to him, they probably need to commit to a new deal too. Given Torres is 26 and the club’s situation, that’s a big call to make.
Barça have been linked with Julián Alvarez, and Atletico Madrid’s reaction has been rather aggressive. If the price tag goes much north of €100 million, it’s probably not worth it for us. Especially since, lest we forget, Alvarez scored just eight league goals last season, half as many as Torres. Spending all of the savings from Lewandowski’s departure on Alvarez seems a gamble.
We think the most rational choice might be sticking with Torres, perhaps giving him a short extension, then finding a younger center forward (Alvarez and Torres are both 26) who can eventually replace him. He doesn’t need to be a ready-made superstar, just a guy who can press, has upside and can share the burden with Torres. New signing Anthony Gordon can also play some minutes up front, if necessary.
2. Should Barcelona make Marcus Rashford‘s deal permanent? Or does the €70 million signing of Gordon from Newcastle mean his time at the club is up?
Rashford is on loan from Manchester United and did well for Barcelona in a reserve role. They can make his deal permanent for €30 million.
We think the only way this works is if he take a massive pay cut, enough to allow them to negotiate the United fee down. (And we’re pretty confident United would take substantially less than €30 million.) But unless Barcelona coach Hansi Flick wants to use him at center forward on a regular basis (he’d be another in-house solution), a permanent deal really doesn’t make sense with Gordon on board.
It’s pretty unlikely Flick would want him up top, since he hasn’t played there effectively for a long time. And while his numbers were good last season — 14 goals and 14 assists — his work off the ball wasn’t great in terms of what Flick demands.
3 Joao Cancelo is also on loan. Should Barça try to keep him?
Al Hilal want €10 million and say there’s plenty of interest around Europe in the 32-year-old if Barcelona don’t pony up. This is a no-brainer and, frankly, Barça hold all the cards. Al Hilal can say they have offers from all over for him, but we don’t think there’s that much of a market for him there. He has already played in Europe’s four biggest leagues, and most big clubs view him as a defensive liability. Plus, he has to agree to any move, and he wants to play for the Blaugrana.
It might take some time, but we’re pretty confident Barça can get a deal over the line at considerably less than €10 million. And in Flick’s system, he can be very good.
4. Barça have a whole group of players whose deals are up in 2028, including Raphinha, Marc-André ter Stegen and Marc Casadó. Should they be extended or moved out, before their transfer value diminishes?
Raphinha fits Flick’s system perfectly, and he has been a major reason for the team’s success. Sure, he’s nearing 30 and has had injuries, but the club can’t lose him now, unless it gets a crazy offer — say, more than €70 million or €80 million.
We think the solution is to do what Barça did last year: give him a one-year extension and park the issue until next summer. He might not go for it — hopefully he will — but they can’t afford to lose him.
Just a couple years ago, Ter Stegen was seen as critical to the Barcelona project, but he spent last season on loan. Joan García is now the No. 1, so they have to try to shift ter Stegen. But with his injury record and salary, that’s going to be nearly impossible. The best they can hope for is a loan.
Casadó is 22 and even won some caps for Spain. But it’s a question of numbers, and Barça need to raise some money. With Marc Bernal finally fit, Pedri untouchable and Frenkie de Jong and Gavi in the mix (as well as Eric García), Barça just don’t need that many guys in the role — especially since he has a much lower ceiling than the others, except perhaps Garcia. And if they find themselves short, they have guys in the academy such as Tommy Marques who deserve a shot. Barça should see what we can get for him this summer — the market for central midfielders is a bit unpredictable — but it should be a minimum of €30 million.
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5. As for defenders with contracts ending in 2028, what to do with Alejandro Balde and Gerard Martín?
Balde, 22, is a useful and versatile player, plus he’s an academy product and popular in the dressing room. That said, he hasn’t quite kicked on the way Barça would have liked, and given his contractual situation, if they get a major offer — say, in the €40 million range — they probably should consider it. If they keep Cancelo, Balde will likely lose his spot as a regular unless they shift him to right back, which would damage his transfer value further. But if they don’t find a taker, they need to give him an extension, just to protect his value.
As for Martin, Flick rates him and he’s not a big earner, so they should give him a new deal. He’s 24 and established himself as a starting center back, which was unexpected. We think getting another central defender should be a priority this summer, so he might not be a starter next year, but he’s been productive under Flick and can fill in at left back. Again, unless someone comes in with a sizeable offer, we’d keep him around.
6. Barça are still under spending restrictions from LaLiga and need to transfer some players out to bring anyone in. Who should they be prepared to part with?
There’s no point beating about the bush; Barcelona need to raise money. They got €11 million when AS Monaco made Ansu Fati‘s contract permanent, they’ll be saving a bundle after Lewandowski left, and they’ll save more if they don’t renew center back Andreas Christensen‘s contract (and they shouldn’t).
Flick is determined to keep Wojciech Sczcesny as the No. 2 goalkeeper, which means they can look to shift Iñaki Peña and possibly get a fee for him. If not, he’ll have to go on loan, as will, probably, Héctor Fort, who was slowed by injuries and didn’t really develop much last year at Elche. Winger Roony Bardghji has the misfortune of playing the same position as Barcelona’s best player, Lamine Yamal, so he’s probably surplus to requirements, too.
That covers the fringe players. They’ll get a decent fee for Casadó and will listen to offers for center back Ronald Araújo (whom they’ve been trying to move for several years) and Balde, but it might be tough to get worthwhile offers. They do have a glut of attacking midfielders, and if Fermín López were fit, Barcelona need to be prepared to part with either him or Dani Olmo, or possibly even Raphinha (see above), depending on how many players they want to bring in. For anybody else, it would need to be the sort of offer that’s impossible to refuse.
7. How should Barcelona feel about their defensive personnel? Is bringing in another central defender as much of a priority as another forward?
Flick’s high line has been a subject of contention all year. But leaving aside the tactics, and given what they’ve achieved, it would be criminal to go through the season with a center-back corps of Pau Cubarsí, Martin, Araujo and Eric Garcia. Nor should Barça try more midseason experiments, such as moving De Jong into the back line or Jules Koundé across from the right.
This is where the team needs to invest. One or two injuries would simply gut the team’s chances. Barça need to be really smart here, because Flick’s defensive system requires a specific skill set, and there are plenty of very good central defenders who simply don’t fit.
Scoring goals isn’t a problem for this team, and while Lewandowski does need to be replaced, the reality is that center back is a bigger priority right now.
Conclusion
Barcelona are coming off an exceptional season, and their core of young players — Yamal, Pedri, Gavi, Fermin, Marc Bernal, Martin, Cubarsi and Joan Garcia are all 25 or younger — is as good as any in Europe. That’s the good news.
They have challenges, too, starting with the financial restrictions they still need to deal with and whic which the fully opened Camp Nou won’t fix overnight. They’re deep in certain positions but desperately thin elsewhere, starting with center forward and center back.
The frustrating thing for Barça is that they’re already among the top four or five teams in Europe. It would only take a little push to get them to the top, yet it’s difficult to do in their circumstances. And the risk of not getting it right is backsliding, and the combination of “levers” and the Bartomeu era coming back to haunt us. It’s a big summer for the team and sporting director Deco.
