Barça want to sign three players this summer: Lautaro, Garcia and Gaya
Ronald Koeman has given the green light to signing a striker, a centre back and a left-back to improve the squad
FC Barcelona already know the signings they expect to make in this summer transfer window in order to give the squad the refresh is so desperately needs. The technical secretary, Ramon Planes, has already detailed his plans and now Ronald Koeman has given the green light to move forward with the deals.
Barça have decided they need to sign a new striker, a central defender and a left-back. The names at the top of those three lists are: Lautaro Martínez, Eric Garcia and Jose Luis Gayà.
SELL FIRST
The club have started to work on deals for all three but they must sell their unwanted players first. Once they have been shown the door, it should speed the process on. Barça ideally want their transfer business wrapped up before the end of September.
The most complicated of those three deals to finalise will be that of Lautaro Martinez. He's the number one priority despite Memphis Depay being rumoured with a switch to Barça recently. Talks with Inter were put on hold whilst they were in the Europa League and Barça hope to strike a deal worth around €65m - and it could include one or two players going the opposite way.
WILDCARDS
Junior Firpo, Semedo, Emerson (on loan at Real Betis) or even Jordi Alba could be included in the deal for Lautaro. The Argentinian striker only wants to move to the Camp Nou, even with Manchester City's recent interest, so is waiting for the two clubs to reach an agreement.
A much more simple move should be the one for Eric Garcia. The young centre back is out of contract at City next summer and has already told them he doesn't want to stay. Barça have offered €10m so far but City could try and get a player in exchange. One of the names they are after is Nelson Semedo, although he was recently classified as 'non-transferable' by Josep Maria Bartomeu.
GAYÁ IS THE FACE OF VALENCIA
The third man on the list is Jose Luis Gaya. Despite Valencia's apparent desire to sell anyone for any price this summer, there's a unified stance when it comes to the left-back: he isn't for sale. His buyout clause stands at €50m which means Barça would need to negotiate a fee with Valencia.
Barça don't expect negotiations to go smoothly but they're confident the lure of moving to Barcelona will be too good for Gaya to turn down. Valencia failed to secure European football for next season which will impact their own financial worries. They are expected to rebuild this summer too and a sizeable fee for Gaya could help them get started.
