Barcelona outcast’s move to Atletico Madrid close to collapsing – report | OneFootball

Barcelona planned massive sales for the ongoing summer transfer window as part of their effort to return to financial stability. Yet, the market has not quite gone to plan.

None of the players who have left the club i.e. Ilkay Gundogan or Mikayil Faye, were amongst the names initially planned to be on sale and it is clear that the club have reached a state of desperation.

After all, deadwood like Clement Lenglet are still Barcelona players and appear to have no way out. Atletico Madrid appeared to be the Catalans’ only hope of shipping out the French defender but that too seems to be falling apart according to reports from SPORT.

Need a new destination

Barcelona have been trying to offload Lenglet for a long time now, especially given his massive wages that eat up a premium of space on the salary bill.

The player is reluctant to move to Saudi Arabia and wishes to stay in elite football. Unfortunately, not many clubs appear interested in his signing at the wages he currently earns.

What next for Clement Lenglet? (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Atletico Madrid came up as a strong candidate to sign the defender in recent weeks, but as revealed by the outlet, Los Rojiblancos are now nearing an agreement with Feyenoord defender David Hancko.

Diego Simeone’s side are willing to shell out €30 million and offer Feyenoord 20% of any future sale and an agreement is close.

Hancko’s signing, needless to say, will close the door for Lenglet’s move to Madrid for the 26-year-old is a left-footed centre-back just like the Barcelona star.

All eyes, thus, fall back on Barcelona to see if they can find a new destination for Lenglet in the coming days. Not long remains in the ongoing summer transfer window and a restart at this point would be disastrous.