FC Barcelona rejected a transfer offer for one of its first team stars in the winter window … [+]
FC Barcelona rejected a transfer offer for one of its first team stars in the winter window according to SPORT, which cited anonymous sources.
The Catalans did at least some business in January by offloading Unai Hernandez to Real Madrid legend Karim Benzema’s Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia.
The youngster was the reserve team Barca Atletic’s leading appearance maker this term and also its captain, but didn’t want to wait to see if he could follow the footsteps of Marc Casado in being promoted to the first team by Hansi Flick.
Barca spun a good deal on the former Girona academy hopeful and pocketed $4-5 million for him, but it could have made double that amount of money offered by Como for one of its teenager, as explained by SPORT.
Regarding Flick’s senior side, there weren’t expected to be any transfers either ingoing or outgoing until the club successfully managed to return to the 1:1 rule under Financial Fair Play (FFP) limits amid trying to register Dani Olmo and Pau Victor for the rest of the season.
The sale of VIP seats to the renovated Spotify Camp Nou for more than $100 million helped with this, but it was thought that somebody such as Ansu Fati or Eric Garcia would have to be offloaded to bring in a figure like Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford on loan.
As we now know, both Barca stars stayed put with Rashford also heading to Aston Villa instead, but Sporting Director Deco reportedly had the chance to sell right back Hector Fort had he wished.
That’s because Como made a $8.4 million (€8 million) offer for the La Masia graduate at the turn of 2025, but it was ultimately turned down by a player “who at all times was reluctant to leave”.
Furthermore, letting Fort go would have left Flick short-staffed in his position, which in the first XI is currently occupied by adapted central defender Jules Kounde.
As shown in October and last Monday’s victories over Alaves and Rayo Vallecano, Fort will get the nod when Kounde has been late for team meetings and is being punished by Flick.
According to El Nacional, Flick has issued a “three times and you’re out” ultimatum to Kounde which will see him lose his starting berth – most probably to Fort – if he’s again tardy, which has reportedly divided the locker room.
