DBasia.news – Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu revealed that the club will do garage sale to reduce player salary expenses and bring in new players. Among the names called was Nelson Semedo.
The inclusion of the 26-year-old right-back’s name into the names of players who are safe from Barca ‘garage sale’ has made it viral on social media. Many Barcelona fans questioned Bartomeu’s decision not to sell him.
“Semedo has to go. All of the goals have been in the areas he should have guarded,” said Twitter user @kayizit.
“I’m completely (Semedo) ‘s biggest fan and he’s been inconsistent lately. We need a real right-back in the team. Trying to replace Dani (Alves) is not working well,” added @CreacyChris.
Semedo is on the safe list for Barcelona player selling along with Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Frenkie de Jong, Clement Lenglet, Ousmane Dembele, Antoine Griezmann, and of course … Lionel Messi.
“Who is safe from a transfer? Leo Messi. He knows that. He’s the best player in the world,” Bartomeu said as quoted on Barcelona’s official website. “I will also talk about Ter Stegen, De Jong, Lenglet, Dembele, and Griezmann.”
It’s not easy for any player who comes to Barcelona to fill the right-back post left by Dani Alves. Semedo has also struggled to do so with the inconsistency he has shown since joining from Benfica in 2017.
Apart from discussing the players who left, Bartomeu also opened up opportunities to survive Philippe Coutinho. The Brazilian midfielder is currently on loan at Bayern Munich.
“The head coach will make the decision (on Coutinho). If he wants it to continue, then next season he will play with us,” added Bartomeu.
Bartomeu added that the sale of players was needed by Barcelona because the club had financial problems as a result of the pandemic. Therefore releasing high-paying players can help Barca overcome these financial difficulties.
“Barca have money. The problem is the big salary. We have a salary limit based on income. Therefore we have to reduce the club’s big salary so we can recruit new players,” concluded Bartomeu.