FC Barcelona’s sporting director, Deco, has publicly revealed the Catalans will have no last-minute signings. When asked whether Barcelona were working on any other signings after the arrival of Gabriel Jesus from Arsenal FC, the former Portugal midfielder was brief: “No.”
Rumors had linked Barcelona with signing a new defender, plus there was the extended search for Julián Alvarez or another striker. Those topics will not be addressed, it seems, in the coming hours until the transfer window shuts.
Among the rumored targets for signing a defender included: Alessandro Bastoni, Gonçalo Inácio, Aymeric Laporte, Castello Lukeba, and Ruud Nijstad,
Apart from Jesus, Barcelona signed Anthony Gordon, Karim Adeyemi, Jesse Bisiwu, Rodri, João Cancelo and Dominik Livaković this window. Several players returned from loan, but they departed quickly as well.
Notable exits included Robert Lewandowski, Marcus Rashford (end of loan), Marc-André ter Stegen, Ronald Araujo, and Ferran Torres. Interestingly, Cancelo both left and came back in the same window as his loan expired and he was with Al-Hilal for a time before Barça snapped him up.
Loan players who were given permanent exits included Iñaki Peña and Ansu Fati. And players such as Héctor Fort and Jofre Torrents were sold with buyback clauses, allowing Barcelona the opportunity to bring them back if they want.
