Neymar Or Lautaro, Not Both: FC Barcelona Forced Into Transfer Rethink Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

FC Barcelona will not be able to afford both Neymar and Lautaro Martinez this summer due to financial complications that have arisen from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Costing either close to or over $300mn together, the club will have to decide whether to pursue the winger or the striker, as has been confirmed by sources to ESPN’s Barça correspondents Moises Llorens and Sam Marsden.

Signing the pair was “always a long shot”, but it has now been “accepted” that the Catalans will “only be able to afford one” of the targets.

It is alleged that former charge Neymar, who left the club for PSG in a 2017 world-record transfer, remains top priority. And while Llorens and Marsden’s colleague Juliens Laurens claimed recently that sporting director Leonardo had made the Brazilian available for $167mn, in order to focus on keeping Kylian Mbappe, Mundo Deportivo originally broke the story detailing how the use of the unique Webster Ruling would price Neymar at $200mn.

Due to step down in 2021, president Josep Bartomeu wants to finish his mandate on a high note by recapturing the 28-year-old, but faces opposition from those that would prefer to see Martinez landed from Inter Milan as a long-term successor to Luis Suarez.

This comes despite admissions that his $120mn release clause fee in the first two weeks of July “excessive”, yet the need for an out-and-out striker is more pressing, some feel, and there is also the fact that Martinez is six years Neymar’s junior to consider.

The club could therefere hold out hope of lowering the sum through a part exchange, then. Already having an offer of $77mn plus Arturo Vidal and Nelson Semedo rejected in recent times, as relayed by Nicolo Schira in the early hours of Monday morning, Tuttosport has previously provided information of an interest in midfielder Arthur Melo which could loosen Inter’s resolve.

Above all, this predicament could pave the way for Real Madrid to snatch Martinez, in a move that would enrage the Blaugrana faithful. Failing to pick El Toro (The Bull) up early, when he was at boyhood club Racing in his homeland, the club has seen his value rise and already had an approach turned down following an impressive Copa America campaign in Brazil.

La Liga announcing an indefinite suspension to play just after midday in Spain this afternoon, the economic uncertainty that the ongoing pandemic has brought with it means it’s “impossible” for FCB “to truly assess what sort of position they will be in financially when — if — the season ends”.

Not only missing out on matchday revenue, the club’s museum has closed its doors and usually receives thousands of daily visitors irrespective of whether they are Culers or not.

Television money is also at risk, while prize money from competitions such as the Champions League and La Liga is also no longer forthcoming, and, as Llorens and Marsden add, the club doesn’t know “what sort of a knock-on effect” all this could have on advertising and marketing revenue.

Perhaps forced into asking their current stars to take a pay cut, it is now becoming more apparent that Barça will be unable to operate in the transfer window as they had originally planned heading into 2020/2021.