BARCELONA: The results from the 17th round of the LaLiga season have left Barcelona nine points ahead of Atletico Madrid, 11 ahead of Valencia and 14 ahead of Real Madrid, but the Blaugrana will not rest on their laurels and are planning some tweaks for 2018.
Firstly, Ousmane Dembele and Rafinha will soon be available again after their lengthy injuries, but the Catalan club’s directors also want to bring in another creative star to reduce the dependence on Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta.
It will be almost impossible to prize Philippe Coutinho away from Liverpool, but Barcelona is also looking at other options.
According to a foreign news outlet, Mesut Ozil, Nabil Fekir, Max Meyer, Leon Goretzka and Aleksandr Golovin have all been considered for a winter move, while Arthur and Antoine Griezmann are options for next summer.
With Javier Mascherano set to leave for Hebei China Fortune, there will also be a need to bring in a new centre-back.
Yerry Mina, who was set to come next summer anyway, is one option, while Blaugrana directors are also considering bringing in a veteran who isn’t cup-tied for the Champions League.
There could be other exits too, with Arda Turan, Aleix Vidal and Gerard Deulofeu all potentially ready to depart from the Camp Nou.
