Barcelona cannot afford to head into the new season without signing a center this summer, especially after seeing the impact it has had on the team this season.
Oriol Romeu was expected to replace Sergio Busquets, but he completely fell out of favor when his performances began to decline before mid-season.
Xavi trusted Ilkay Gundogan to make a change in this position, but it became increasingly clear that the German needed to be lined up in a more advanced position if you want to get the best out of him.
Andreas Christensen has occupied the midfielder position since then and has done quite well considering the circumstances.
However, it is far from a long-term solution and, as such, Barcelona have set their sights on Everton’s Amadou Onana to strengthen the position. However, they can see their target melting beneath them.
Bayern Munich planning coup
According to a report from SPORTBayern Munich are interested in Andre Onana and plan to sign him from Barcelona this summer.
Barcelona do not have the financial means to compete with Bayern at the moment and will not be able to offer the 60 million euros Everton want for Onana. Their best bet would be an offer of €40m, which won’t convince the Merseyside side.
Now 22, Onana is ready to take the next big step in his career and, although reports suggest a preference for Barcelonait seems very unlikely that he will wait for the Blaugrana.
He is also represented by Pini Zahavi, who has good relationships with Barcelona and Bayern Munich, so this move could lean one way or the other at the moment.
Manchester United are also interested in signing him.
The relegation handover?
There is A One thing that can still work in Barcelona’s favor in their pursuit of Onana, and that is if Everton are relegated from the Premier League.
They currently sit in 16th place, four points clear of the bottom three, but have not won any of their last 11 Premier League games, and just one in 15 games in all competitions.
If they were relegated to the Championship, Onana’s asking price could be reduced to €30-40 million, which could be affordable for Barcelona, in theory.