Five players who could leave Barcelona in January to save their stalling careers

Barcelona are hopeful of restructuring their squad with new signings next year but multiple players must depart Camp Nou first to make room on the wage bill for new arrivals

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The countdown to the January transfer window continues with clubs across Europe planning for players coming in or out of their clubs.

La Liga giants Barcelona are likely to be focusing more on outgoings this winter due to their necessity to continue to raise funds and slim down their wage bill.

The Catalan club’s well-documented financial problems ensure that the club must continue to offload players in order to create space for rejuvenation.

Barca crashed out of the Champions League earlier this month and boss Xavi Hernandez has pledged that the club will return to the level of Europe’s elite in a year from now and while that may sound optimistic, it piles the pressure on club president Joan Laporta to deliver.

The Blaugrana have already identified seven free agents as transfer targets going into next season, but there are likely to need to be several exits first.

These are the five players who are most likely to be moved on from the Camp Nou in January.

Samuel Umtiti

Central defender Umtiti has suffered with multiple injury issues in recent seasons and has become a peripheral figure in Barca’s squad.

Umtiti has fallen from prominence at international level with France and at Barca, where Gerard Pique, Ronald Araujo, Eric Garcia and Clement Lenglet are ahead of him in the pecking order.

A high earner with little first-team opportunities, will be moved on at the soonest opportunity.

Philippe Coutinho

The Brazilian playmaker became the Catalan club’s record signing back in January 2018 from Liverpool for a reported fee of £142million – a record sale for an English club.

Like Umtiti, he is a high-earner who is no longer under consideration for a starting role in the first-team.

The 29-year-old spent the 2019-20 campaign on loan at Bayern Munich – helping them to the Champions League crown – but returned to Barca last year and has suffered with fitness problems since.

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Coutinho has started just four matches out of a possible 16 for the Blaugrana this campaign and remains a peripheral figure at the club despite the exit of a series of star players at the club.

Barca are desperate to move on the Brazilian.

Frenkie de Jong

The Dutch international midfielder has been one of Barca’s best performers since his £75million switch from Ajax in 2019.

Yet he has endured an underwhelming calendar year and still retains an extremely high transfer valuation, that will make Barca consider a sale.

De Jong is likely to re-find his best form in a better environment, while with Pedri, Nico Gonzalez and Gavi – Barca already have plenty of ready-made replacements for the midfielder.

Ousmane Dembele

The French forward is out of contract at the Camp Nou this coming summer and contract talks have come to a standstill.

Dembele will either leave Barca this January for a transfer fee or depart as a free agent months later, with the Catalan club keen to recover a transfer fee while lessening their wage bill.

An extremely talented and agile player, Dembele was not so long ago one of the world’s most talented youngsters and could still have a long and successful career.

However, he must overcome his recurring fitness issues to reach his full potential.

Marc-Andre Ter Stegen

As with Frenkie de Jong, goalkeeper Ter Stegen has also been in a slump of form but his is more long-term and pronounced.

Once of the world’s truly elite goalkeepers, the German’s form has become increasingly erratic and less assured.

While he is still Barca’s best goalkeeper, the club may believe they could work a profit by cashing-in on him now before risking his form falling further.