Vermaelen, Samper and Tello may be next to leave Barça
Next on the agenda for Barcelona sporting director Robert Fernandez is finding a solution for the future of three players: Thomas Vermaelen, Sergi Samper and Cristian Tello.
Each of them are the next on the list of players who could leave the Camp Nou this summer, with Samper's potential move to Valencia already at an advanced stage according to reports yesterday.
Barça are committed to giving the youth graduate as much game time as possible to continue his development - hence the willingness to negotiate with Los Che - but talks are now focusing on whether there will be a purchase and repurchase clause for Valencia and the Blaugrana, respectively, in the 21-year-old's contract.
'OVERBOOKING'
Samper travelled with the Barça contingent to St. George's Park last week for the England and Ireland stage of pre-season, where he eventually played 45 minutes in the Blaugrana's 3-1 win over Celtic on Sunday.
But the 'overbooking' that is now present in the midfield - with eight fellow team-mates competing for the same positions - means this season, at least, would prove extremely difficult for the youngster to feature substantially under Luis Enrique.
Relations between Barça and Valencia are positive after the arrival of Andre Gomes and the departure of Martin Montoya, so Samper's transfer to the Estadio de Mestalla should be finalised without any major problems.
In the case of Tello, a deal is imminent given Barça has reached an agreement in principle with Fiorentina and only a few details remaining to be resolved before official confirmation of the deal.
The forward will go back to Florence on loan - having spent half of the 2015/16 season in Italy - with a seven million euros purchase option for the Viola at the end of that period. Barça don't want the deal to cost the club additional expenditure and are hoping that Fiorentina do indeed take Tello off their hands permanently.
Finally, Vermaelen is free to decide his future. Barça aren't in any rush to put any pressure on the Belgian and would be happy for him to assume the role of being the club's fifth choice centre-back.
The defender has an offer on the table to return to Arsenal and another from West Ham United, a move to Italy and Turkey have already been ruled out - the priority is the Premier League.
