{"id":33015,"date":"2026-06-01T21:49:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T21:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/33015\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T21:49:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T21:49:22","slug":"want-to-return-to-la-liga-barcelona-full-back-target-opens-door-to-summer-departure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/33015\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Want to return to La Liga&#8217;: Barcelona full-back target opens door to summer departure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">FC Barcelona have been moving quickly in the transfer market, having already secured the signing of Anthony Gordon and having an agreement in place with Bernardo Silva.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Currently, the focus is fully on closing a deal for Atletico Madrid\u2019s Julian Alvarez, but the sporting department, led by Deco, is also working actively on strengthening multiple other positions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One such area that the Catalans are considering bolstering is left-back. With Alejandro Balde\u2019s performances dipping this season, a good offer could see the club offload the La Masia graduate, with replacements already being identified.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In fact, two former La Masia trainees, <a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/barcelona-given-second-chance-to-sign-former-academy-star-for-e12million\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Alejandro Grimaldo (Bayer Leverkusen)<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/deco-in-contact-with-chelsea-full-back-as-barcelona-explore-defensive-market\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Marc Cucurella (Chelsea)<\/a> have been identified as possible targets.<\/p>\n<p>Grimaldo open to Leverkusen exit<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"690\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1-fc-koln-v-bayer-04-leverkusen-bundesliga-1-1024x690.jpg\" alt=\"Alejandro Grimaldo of Bayer Leverkusen\" class=\"wp-image-201254\"  \/>Ready to return to Spain. (Photo by Pau Barrena\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, speaking to the media, Grimaldo has opened the door to a summer exit, claiming that he desires a summer return to La Liga.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI want to return to La Liga,\u201d the Spanish left-back said, as quoted by <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/FabrizioRomano\/status\/2061445992264740872\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Fabrizio Romano<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 30-year-old defender is currently a part of the Spain squad that will be taking part at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America this summer. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the competition less than a couple of weeks away, any talks of a transfer might have to wait until after the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>Grimaldo could cost less than \u20ac15 million<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Grimaldo spent almost eight years at La Masia, having joined from Valencia in 2008. The left-back departed for Benfica in January 2016 without having made a single first-team appearance.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1-fc-koln-v-bayer-04-leverkusen-bundesliga-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Alejandro Grimaldo of Bayer Leverkusen\" class=\"wp-image-201255\"  \/>Grimaldo\u2019s contract at Leverkusen expires in 2027. (Photo by Pau Barrena\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Having moved to Germany in 2023, he has now expressed his desire to return to Spain this summer, with only one year left on his contract.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And, as per reports, Grimaldo could be <a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/barcelona-target-prioritises-return-to-spain-will-be-available-for-below-e15-million\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">available for a reasonable price of under \u20ac15 million<\/a> this summer, making him an attractive target.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At 30, he might not be a long-term solution for Barcelona but could prove to be a shrewd signing to add greater experience to a relatively young squad, especially with Robert Lewandowski leaving. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, he should be seen more as an alternative for Joao Cancelo, whose permanent transfer is still not finalised, rather than a replacement for Balde.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FC Barcelona have been moving quickly in the transfer market, having already secured the signing of Anthony Gordon&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4211,92,222,786,223],"class_list":["post-33015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-barcelona","tag-alejandro-grimaldo","tag-barcelona","tag-barcelona-news","tag-bayer-leverkusen","tag-fc-barcelona"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}