Barcelona Transfer News: Big Names Reportedly Set for January Departure

After being denied permission from FIFA to bring in a replacement for the perennially injured Thomas Vermaelen because of “exceptional situations,” per the Associated Press via the Mail Online, you wouldn’t have thought Barcelona would be overly keen on letting defensive reinforcements walk out of the Camp Nou door.

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But reports suggest the Blaugrana are willing to let two young full-backs leave the club in the midseason transfer window; there would be no replacements drafted in for either of course, with Barcelona’s year-long transfer embargo set to come into play in this January.

Nonetheless, according to Tuttosport (h/t Joe Short of the Express) full-back Martin Montoya could be set for a move to Juventus, scuppering Arsenal and Liverpool’s hopes of signing the 23-year-old defender.

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The player’s agent has admitted the Spaniard, who has played just one La Liga game this season per WhoScored, wants to leave the Camp Nou, and he doesn’t expect Barcelona to stand in the player’s way given his current lack of playing time, per Short’s piece:

"

Tomorrow there will be a meeting with Barcelona to discuss a decision we have already taken.

He will leave the club in January, there are clubs interested. In England, Italy and Germany.

It is not Montoya's problem or mine, not a problem for us. The decision is made, we are seeing how the situation and the decisions of Luis Enrique.

"

The right-back is a player who has graduated through Barcelona’s revered La Masia academy and at one point was being touted by many to replace the longstanding first choice Dani Alves. But his contract is due to expire in the summer and he looks to have finally had enough of playing second fiddle at the Camp Nou, per Bleacher Report’s Karl Matchett:

Alves had initially claimed he was to be leaving the Catalan giants in the summer, but the club’s sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta has admitted they’re now discussing a new deal, per AS (h/t Simon Jones of the Daily Mail).

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Montoya is a player who has undeniable potential, but he’s simply not going to fulfil it if he continues to sit on the bench. A loan move might be ideal for him initially with Alves’ future still somewhat uncertain, but whether it’s permanent or not, a transfer has to yield first team football on a much more regular basis. Otherwise, his talent will surely go to waste.

Reports have also claimed another young Barcelona full-back could be on his way out of the club on a loan deal, with Everton supposedly negotiating with the Blaugrana about taking summer signing Douglas to Merseyside for the remainder of the season.

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Like Montoya, the 24-year-old has struggled to nail down a place in the starting XI having made just one La Liga appearance, and according to reports in Spain (h/t talkSPORT and Jamie Sanderson of Metro), the former Sao Paolo defender has started talks with the Toffees about the prospect of a loan move in January. 

Here are the kind of attributes that convinced Barcelona to splash out a reported £4.4 million for the young right-back:

Roberto Martinez’s squad boasts one of the finest right-backs in the Premier League in Seamus Coleman, but his back-up, the ageing Tony Hibbert, is very much in the twilight of his career and incapable of providing the same kind of dynamism as the Irishman.

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That’s certainly something Douglas would bring, but you suspect the prospect of this move depends very much on what happens with Montoya. Luis Enrique would surely not allow both of his back-up right-backs to leave in the January window; if he did, there would be no natural cover for the 31-year-old Alves.

With Montoya’s contract running down and with his agent apparently intent on pushing through a transfer, it would seem his Barcelona days are up. Enrique is clearly a fan of Douglas—he brought him to the club this summer, after all—and with the Blaugrana likely to go far in a host of competitions, the young Brazilian should find opportunities a lot easier to come by in the months ahead.