Report: Barcelona want Bayern Munich’s Leon Goretzka on a free transfer next summer

Here’s a doozy: Per Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona want to sign Leon Goretzka on a free transfer next summer. Coach Ronald Koeman actually wants Lucas Hernandez to be added to his side, but the Catalans consider the Frenchman too expensive to be pried away from Bayern Munich.

Do we actually believe this garbage? Of course not. MD is peddling a fantasy at the moment — Barca cannot sign any Bayern players. While Goretzka was indeed linked with a move to La Liga back when he was still at Schalke, why would he move there now? Barca have a massively bloated wage bill and can’t even sign Leo Messi onto a new contract yet. They’re desperately trying to offload players like Samuel Umtiti and Antoine Griezmann, but their previous board left them in such a mess that doing so is proving to be very difficult.

Goretzka, at the moment, is one of the top midfielders in the world. He could literally have his pick of “super clubs” if he were to move in 2022. Reportedly, Manchester United are already interested, and they’ve offered the player a massive raise to join the English Premier League. However, Bayern are still hopefully about signing the 26-year-old to a new contract, with reports indicating that he would prefer to stay in the Bavarian capital.

So, Barcelona are basically out of luck here. Honestly, this feels like a poor attempt by Catalan newspapers to distract from the club’s troubles off the pitch at the moment. If you want to know more, check out this excellent thread by Swiss Ramble:

TL;DR Revenues are down, wages are out of control. Barca need to focus on getting their affairs in order before they can look to make more free signings. Goretzka is safe at Bayern ... for now.