Chelsea and AC Milan vying to sign €35m Barcelona defender | OneFootball

Barcelona are open to signing a new central defender this summer, although one will not arrive until someone leaves. The likely candidate to depart has been Ronald Araujo, but there are now chances for one of the Uruguayan’s teammates to leave instead.

Pau Cubarsi, Eric Garcia, Gerard Martin, Andreas Christensen, Araujo and even Jules Kounde are regarded as the centre-back options that Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick will have at his disposal for the 2026-27 season, but there has been interest in adding more experience to a backline that severely lacked it during the previous campaign – especially in the Champions League, where the Catalans failed to keep a single clean sheet.

But due to the expected big outlay on a new star striker, Barcelona are unwilling to sign a new central defender without someone leaving – but that could happen, with Martin attracting interest from Chelsea and AC Milan, as per Marca.

Milan have been after Martin for months, and the report claims that they are prepared to pay €35m for the 24-year-old, who was very impressive during the 2025-26 season. Chelsea also appreciate the Spain U21 international, and they would also be capable of paying a price that Barcelona would surely consider.

Flick clear that he wants Martin to stay

The problem that Chelsea and Milan will face is that Flick has informed Barcelona that he wants to retain Martin’s services. Because of this, club officials have closed the door on a possible departure, although this could be revisited if an unrejectable offer were to be received in the coming weeks.

For the moment, Barcelona continue to work towards selling Araujo, if they are indeed going to part ways with a central defender this summer. The Uruguayan is the preferred candidate to help raise funds, although his stay could be assured if Martin goes instead.