Barcelona negotiating €8m midfielder transfer deal, president confirms interest

Barcelona's exit doors have not gotten a chance to close in recent weeks as players continue to leave the club one after another as the Catalan club looks to raise funds during the transfer window.

Carles Alena could be the latest player to leave with Getafe close to making his loan deal a permanent one this month. The midfielder will join Jean-Clair Todibo, Konrad de la Fuente, Matheus Fernandes, Francisco Trincao and Junior Firpo in leaving Barcelona this summer.

Getafe president Angel Torres confirmed that Alena is keen to join his club on a permanent basis, after spending the second half of the 2020-21 season on loan at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez. The two clubs are negotiating a fee, which is expected to be between €5 million and €8 million.

"Aleñá's operation is pending on Messi's. The boy wants to come to Getafe and Barcelona knows it. I think he will have a happy ending. I am negotiating directly with Barcelona and I hope Aleñá is here soon to go to La Manga," Torres said, as quoted on Spanish publication Sport.

The 23-year-old midfielder, who can also play on the right wing, came up through the famed La Masia academy and made his way to the Barcelona first-team. But Alena was unable to hold down a regular place, which saw him sent on loan to Real Betis last season and to Getafe this January.

Alena's contract at the Camp Nou expires in 2022 and Barcelona want to extract whatever they can this summer rather than lose him on a free transfer next season. The two clubs are negotiating a fee while the La Liga giants will retain a percentage of any future sale and insert a buyback clause in his contract.

The deal is expected to be completed in the coming days and the fee will add to the €26.5 million Barcelona have already raised in player sales thus far. However, the Catalan giants are desperate to offload more players in order to raise funds and cut their wage bill, which will allow them to register Lionel Messi's new contract and other new signings like Memphis Depay and Sergio Aguero.