Portuguese club now also interested in out-of-favor Barcelona forward’s loan | OneFootball

There are only a few days left for FC Barcelona to be able to strengthen their squad before the winter transfer market closes ahead of the second half of the 2024-25 season.

The Blaugranes are looking to bring in an offensive reinforcement for Hansi Flick, with Marcus Rashford looking to be the most likely player to join the Blaugrana team.

However, to be able to land him, the Catalans will have to generate a significant amount of salary margin, and for this purpose, they will have to part ways with some of their current players.

One such player whom Barcelona are particularly keen to offload is the winger Ansu Fati, who is not exactly a part of Flick’s plans, and who has played very few minutes this season.

However, the player himself is reluctant to leave, as he believes he can get more chances to shine in the Blaugrana team, and dreams of succeeding here. Also, his last loan to Brighton and Hove Albion did not go exactly as planned, and his good relationship with some of the players in this Barcelona dressing room also pushes him to stay.

Still, there are several big European clubs interested in signing him. For instance, the Dutch side Ajax Amsterdam was recently reported to be interested in him, and now, according to SPORT, the Portuguese team Benfica is also interested in getting him on a loan with a purchase option.

Fati’s agent, Jorge Mendes, is working on these operations, and the situation of the Spaniard will be assessed in the coming few days before the market closes.

Barcelona are willing to do their part to materialise his departure, but both Ajax and Benfica want the Blaugranes to pay half of the salary of the winger till the end of the season. Thus, it remains to be seen how this operation develops, and whether Fati will leave the Catalan side in the coming few days.