{"id":74279,"date":"2026-08-22T18:01:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T18:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/74279\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T18:01:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T18:01:09","slug":"flick-identifies-bundesliga-star-as-his-preferred-choice-to-strengthen-barcelona-defence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/74279\/","title":{"rendered":"Flick identifies Bundesliga star as his preferred choice to strengthen Barcelona defence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With Rodri and Joao Cancelo already in the bag, all that\u2019s left for Barcelona to do this summer is to secure the signing of a new striker.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, given the events in the market so far, including the loan of Ronald Araujo, the club have not completely ruled out signing a new centre-back as well.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A lot of it depends on the pursuit of a new striker, but Barcelona, in fact, <a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/barcelona-leave-door-open-for-late-centre-back-signing-under-two-conditions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">remain open to signing a new centre-back<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Castello Lukeba emerges as an option<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.twitch.tv\/gerardromero\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Gerard Romero<\/a>, Castello Lukeba is someone Hansi Flick is really interested in if Barcelona end up looking for a top class centre-back.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/leeds-united-v-rb-leipzig-pre-season-friendly-1-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"Castello Lukeba, RB Leipzig defender\" class=\"wp-image-210159\"  \/>Lukeba is a talented ball-playing centre-back. (Photo by George Wood\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A native of Lyon, Lukeba currently plies his trade with RB Leipzig. He has become a regular for the team after joining the club in 2023, having already racked up over 100 competitive appearances.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lukeba is an athletic individual, who is good at playing the ball out from the back. His nature as a left-footed centre-back means he could be a natural replacement for Inigo Martinez.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aged just 23, Lukeba could be a smart long-term investment as well, especially if he can manage to replicate his performances in the Bundesliga.<\/p>\n<p>Potential roadblocks for Barcelona<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, signing Lukeba from Leipzig is easier said than done.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Bundesliga giants have already had to part ways with too many stars this summer, including Yan Diomande and Lois Openda.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/vfb-stuttgart-v-rb-leipzig-bundesliga-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Castello Lukeba, RB Leipzig defender\" class=\"wp-image-210157\"  \/>Lukeba may cost a fortune. (Photo by Sebastian Widmann\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The club did bring in Maxime Esteve to shore up the defence. But it is unlikely they would want to part ways with the team\u2019s star defender, Lukeba.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even if they are forced to a sale, the player has a contract until 2029, thus giving Leipzig the leverage to ask for a hefty premium for the Frenchman\u2019s services.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Keeping that in mind, Barcelona may have to comfortably cough up more than \u20ac50 million in order to secure the services of Lukeba.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For now, though, the club\u2019s priority is to sign a new striker, with Julian Alvarez still remaining a top target.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With Rodri and Joao Cancelo already in the bag, all that\u2019s left for Barcelona to do this summer&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[92,222,16858,223,2986],"class_list":["post-74279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-barcelona","tag-barcelona","tag-barcelona-news","tag-castello-lukeba","tag-fc-barcelona","tag-rb-leipzig"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74279","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=74279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}