According to the Daily Mail, Barcelona are planning to offload 5 players in order to cut down the wage bill and to raise some funds for their future transfers. The 5 players according to the report which has cited Spanish outlet Sport as the source are Javier Mascherano, Arda Turan, Gerard Deulofeu, Aleix Vidal and Rafinha. Javier Mascherano reportedly was wanted by Lionel Messi himself to leave the club as with the emergence of Samuel Umtiti, the Argentine is relegated to the bench. And in an World Cup year, the more Mascherano plays the better it is for Argentina. Also Mascherano might be the only player among the five who will be missed by the fans as he has been a loyal servant to the club for many years.
Arda Turan surely will rank as one of the worst ever signings made by Barcelona and Barca fans will be glad to see him leave. Deulofeu on the other hand was a strange signing in the summer as it was pretty evident to everyone that he didn’t have the talent nor the dedication to make it at the highest level. Vidal and Rafinha are surplus to the squad at the moment so it makes sense to let them go.
The two high profile targets Barcelona are tracking are Coutinho and Antoine Griezmaan. Liverpool will probably force Barcelona to pay over the odds for the Brazillian as they did in the summer when they refused to bring down their asking price even after Coutinho submitted a transfer request. On the other hand, Atletico Madrid seem to be willing to let their star French forward go for the right price.