{"id":70121,"date":"2026-08-13T13:49:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T13:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/70121\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T13:49:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T13:49:10","slug":"barcelona-director-eyeing-one-more-addition-once-rodri-joao-cancelo-deals-are-done-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/70121\/","title":{"rendered":"Barcelona director eyeing one more addition once Rodri, Joao Cancelo deals are done – report"},"content":{"rendered":"

FC Barcelona are entering the final stretch of the transfer window with the potential for plenty of movement. <\/p>\n

And their priorities are clear: a striker, with Julian Alvarez still the main target, Rodri and Joao Cancelo. However, the sporting department is also working on another potential addition. <\/p>\n

Indeed, according to SPORT<\/a>, Deco wants to sign a top-level left-footed centre-back in the final days of the window if the finances allow it, a decision he has considered necessary for weeks despite internal debate.<\/p>\n

New centre-back on the agenda<\/p>\n

Deco already believed at the beginning of the summer that the defence needed a major reinforcement. <\/p>\n

That led Barcelona to explore a move for Alessandro Bastoni of Inter, but the option was eventually abandoned because there was no sporting consensus and his valuation was considered too high.<\/p>\n

The centre-back issue was subsequently put on hold, but Ronald Araujo\u2019s departure has reopened the possibility, and Bar\u00e7a are now determined to explore the market again.<\/p>\n

\"HansiFlick does not see a new centre-back as a priority. (Photo by Alex Livesey\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Hansi Flick, however, has never considered the position a priority. The German coach would welcome an improvement to his squad but believes the main effort should go toward finding a centre-forward.<\/p>\n

Flick is very happy with Pau Cubarsi and Gerard Martin, while the squad also has Andreas Christensen and Eric Garcia, and academy defender Alvaro Cortes has also impressed.<\/p>\n

Still, the Catalans believe that adding an experienced centre-back would provide greater security and depth.<\/p>\n

Laporte and Lukeba on the List<\/p>\n

Barcelona have been searching for a high-quality defender who can make an immediate impact, similar to the role previously played by Inigo Martinez. <\/p>\n

The ideal candidate would be left-footed, experienced and comfortable playing in Flick\u2019s high defensive line.<\/p>\n

One name that has gained prominence is Aymeric Laporte<\/a>. His camp previously indicated that there was an affordable release clause, prompting Bar\u00e7a to examine the possibility.<\/p>\n

\"AymericAymeric Laporte remains an option for Barcelona. (Photo by Justin Setterfield\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Laporte would be an especially natural fit because he already played alongside Cubarsi during the World Cup, where their partnership produced an excellent performance. <\/p>\n

The complication is that Athletic maintain there is no such affordable release clause and have no intention of negotiating his departure.<\/p>\n

Another name to have emerged is Castello Lukeba<\/a>, the RB Leipzig centre-back who has been closely monitored by Bar\u00e7a scouts throughout the year. <\/p>\n

He is a younger option with strong potential, good distribution and considerable physical power. The drawback is financial: signing Lukeba now would require a substantial investment.<\/p>\n

Deco\u2019s final move<\/p>\n

The centre-back file is therefore far from closed. Barcelona\u2019s immediate focus remains on the striker, Rodri and Cancelo, with the latter two operations considered close to completion. <\/p>\n

Once those deals are resolved, the club will turn its attention to the defence. That is the final market coup Deco wants to make: adding one more major piece to complete Bar\u00e7a\u2019s squad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FC Barcelona are entering the final stretch of the transfer window with the potential for plenty of movement.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[14717,92,222,16858,331,223],"class_list":["post-70121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-barcelona","tag-aymeric-laporte","tag-barcelona","tag-barcelona-news","tag-castello-lukeba","tag-deco","tag-fc-barcelona"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70121","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=70121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}