Barcelona manager Hansi Flick rejected French midfielder earlier this summer

Barcelona are currently assessing their options in the final 48 hours of the transfer market, in the hope they can get their fresh sponsorship deal with Nike over the line, which theoretically would allow them to move for another player. Following what looks like an anterior cruciate ligament injury to Marc Bernal though, their plans could change.

It looks as if Barcelona will be forced to look at alternatives to Bernal already at the club with Marc Casado and Pau Prim noted as perhaps the most likely options. Frenkie de Jong and Andreas Christensen could be used there once back from injury, and Eric Garcia has also been played in midfield fleetingly.

An option earlier this season, before Hansi Flick had decided to use Marc Bernal in the first team, Ngolo Kante was offered to the Blaugrana. MD say that many more offers of players are likely to arrive in the next 48 hours, but that Flick himself ruled out Kante as an option earlier in the summer.

The 33-year-old was also offered to Atletico Madrid earlier in the summer, but his club, Al-Ittihad, are also not believed to be interested in offers for Kante, who they invested significant money in. Certainly he would be beyond Barcelona’s means, and anyone who they might consider bringing in might have to be on lona.