Barcelona trio Ter Stegen, De Jong and Sergino Dest set to be placed on the transfer list

Frenkie de Jong-Barcelona

Spanish giants Barcelona recently crashed out of the Champions League after a 3-0 defeat against Bayern Munich in the final group game of this season’s competition.

The Catalan La Liga giants will now compete in the Europa League and it will come as a major disappointment to the club and the fan base.

Playing in the Europa League will be a matter of shame for a club with Barcelona’s stature and prestige. However, it will affect the club financially as well.

The prize money in the Europa League is much less compared to that of the Champions League and for a club in financial crisis, it will come as a major blow.

Barcelona are currently struggling with their finances and they have massive debt. Their financial situation forced them to let go of the likes of Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann during the summer transfer window and it appears that they are planning another fire sale in January now.

According to the latest reports, Barcelona have now placed the likes of Marc Andre Ter Stegen,  Frenkie de Jong and Sergino Dest on the transfer list.

The club will be hoping to raise money through sales and strengthen their squad.

Xavi Hernandez needs to improve his squad in multiple areas and Barcelona will have to sign quite a few players in order to get back to challenging for the major honours. 

The squad is in need of a major overhaul but Barcelona simply do not have the funds to pull off the necessary signings without selling a few of their star players.

The likes of Dest and De Jong are rated highly across Europe and Barcelona should have no shortage of suitors for them.

It will be interesting to see whether all three players leave the club during the January transfer window.

It is unlikely that Barcelona will be able to strengthen every position next month and the departure of the aforementioned players could end up weakening the side for the remainder of the season.

The title race is already beyond Barcelona and it seems that the race for the top four finish might be a bit of a struggle for them as well.