Barcelona's main objective after Griezmann snub: A new midfielder
Eriksen, Thiago, De Jong, Pjanic and Rabiot are all on Barcelona's list of potential transfer targets this summer
Now it's all about a "top class" central midfielder. This is the radical switch in priorities from the sporting department following Antoine Griezmann's decision to stay at Atletico Madrid. Barcelona want a new midfielder to take over the mantle left by Andres Iniesta.
The 'no' from the French striker has provoked Barcelona to rethink their summer plans entirely.
The profile that the technical secretary is looking for is clear but they still need to meet with Valverde to see which player he wants. In fact, there's a meeting scheduled in the next few days to find out who Valverde's first choice is and then form a strategy to make the deal happen.
The club is looking for a specific type of player: a top level central midfielder, who can fit in with Barcelona's style, and who wouldn't be a short-term replacement for Iniesta. A footballer who would play a key role in the structure of the project, who isn't over 28 years old and could have an immediate impact on the team.
One of the problems Barcelona are going to find is that the whole world knows they have less than €100m to spend. That's the same amount that the club were willing to spend on Griezmann.
In this way, it's a familiar story to last the one we saw last summer. After everybody know the price PSG had paid for Neymar, and how much Barcelona had to spend, it made things complicated when it came to negotiating for replacements. This is why the fees for Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho were so elevated.
Barcelona saw signing Griezmann as a great opportunity in the current market. The club believed in the player's word that he would join and assumed it was merely a formality that he'd be wearing their shirt.
Barcelona also set a limit for the player, knowing full well that Atletico were offering a lot more money for him to stay at the club. Not even the encouraging words from Suarez and Messi were enough to convince Griezmann to join. It's only now that Barcelona recognise that signing Griezmann shouldn't have been a priority and are instead switching their sights to a top class midfielder.
The candidates are: Christian Eriksen (Tottenham), Thiago Alcántara (Bayern), Miralem Pjanic (Juventus), De Jong (Ajax), Rabiot (PSG) and Golovin (CSKA).
the situation of each target
Out of all the options the one Barcelona likes the most is Eriksen, but up until now Tottenham have refused to even discuss the possibility of a move.
The easiest option would be re-signing Thiago. Bayern are happy to sell him and the player would be happy to re-join Barcelona. The German club's interest in Lucas Digne, and the possibility of adding him to any deal for Thiago, could bring the asking price down to around €50m. There's also a lot of support for the signing of Thiago inside the Barcelona dressing room.
As for Pjanic, there are more doubts about him and he's a footballer who will be 29 next April. This is in stark contrast to De Jong (21).
Ajax's central midfielder is someone who interests Barcelona a lot but De Jong will spend another season in Holland first.
Rabiot, whose contract only has 12 months left to run, is someone that Barcelona feel they'd be in a strong position should they choose to negotiate with PSG for him.
And the last one on the list is Golovin (22) after his fantastic performance in Russia's debut at the World Cup. "I've heard rumours about Barcelona," he said yesterday.
