The business Barça still need to do for the 2019/20 season
Three new signings is not the end of the club's summer activity
FC Barcelona kicked off the 2019-20 preseason on Monday with three new faces in Neto, Frenkie de Jong and Antoine Griezmann, but the squad is still not finished for the new season.
For many clubs, signing three top-level footballers would be them done for the summer. However, the demands at Barça mean that the club are obliged to keep working hard, especially when some of the possible signings could have repercussions in terms of sales, too.
NEYMAR
Without a doubt, the key name is Neymar Jr. The Paris Saint-Germain forward, who returned to Paris on Monday, wants the French club's sporting director Leonardo to negotiate his return to Barcelona. It will not be easy, though, as it's a huge operation and Barça have already made a big financial effort to sign Antoine Griezmann, as president Josep Maria Bartomeu revealed on Sunday.
Associated with Neymar's possible return to Camp Nou are other names: Philippe Coutinho, Ivan Rakitic and Samuel Umtiti, who have all been touted as makeweights in the deal.
While Coutinho is open to a change of scenery, the other two would prefer to stay put. Ousmane Dembele has brought interest from Bayern Munich. If Neymar finally comes back, some of those players will have to leave.
LEFT-BACK
Barça have closed several sales so far this summer (Denis Suárez, André Gomes, Cilllessen...), but there are still more to go, such as Malcon (Everton, Arsenal, Saint-Étienne...) or Rafinha Alcántara (Valencia). Nelson Semedo would also like to go to Atletico Madrid.
Losing Semedo or Umtiti could condition who else Barcelona sign, even though in principle they only want to sign a left-back in defence to compete with Jordi Alba. A lot of names have been thrown up for the role, including Guerreiro (Borussia Dortmund) and Junior Firpo (Real Betis).
