No, Barcelona will not sell Ronald Araujo and Frenkie de Jong to sign Kylian Mbappe
Sporting director Deco has quickly dismissed the latest round of speculation
The Kylian Mbappe Sweepstakes are truly underway as we inch closer to the French international becoming the biggest free agent in football history with every single big club in the world looking to secure the services of one of the very best players on the planet.
The striker seems destined to a move to Real Madrid, but nothing is decided just yet which opens the door for a wave of rumors and speculation about which club will jump ahead of Los Blancos and steal Mbappe from them.
Barcelona seem completely out of the race due to their financial situation, but there was a lot of speculation at the beginning of this week that the Blaugrana could look into selling some of their best players to create enough salary cap space to accomodate Mbappe’s wages.
Two names were specifically brought up: Ronald Araujo, who is a target of Bayern Munich and could become one of the most expensive defenders of all time if he were to be sold, and Frenkie de Jong, who has by far the highest salary in Barça’s books due to a contract restructure done during the pandemic.
La Liga’s rules state clubs can spend 40% of the money they make and/or save on salaries, and the potential funds from selling Araujo and De Jong as well as getting rid of their wages could theoretically make Mbappe’s arrival financially feasible.
But before any Barça fan can begin dreaming of Mbappe at Camp Nou, sporting director Deco has quickly dismissed the rumors.
“I don’t know what will happen with Mbappe. It would be a mistake to sell [Araujo and Frenkie]. I would like to improve the squad and not make it worse. I think it would be worse for the team if Araujo and Frenkie left and Mbappe came.”
Do you agree with Deco that swapping Araujo and De Jong for Mbappe would make Barça’s squad worse, Barça fans?
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