Barcelona’s hopes of removing excess players from their squad before the end of the summer transfer window in a bid to reduce the wage bill and register new players met slight trouble on Tuesday.

The Blaugrana have a lot of players they want to release, including forwards Martin Braithwaite and Memphis Depay. Others who are now considered surplus to requirements at the Camp Nou Stadium include French defender Samuel Umtiti, Riqui Puig, and Oscar Mingueza.

Frenkie De Jong is also one of the players Barcelona wants to ship out in order to ease the wage bills, but the club has been locked with the player’s resistance to leaving without sorting the salaries the club owes him.

A similar situation is already brewing with Danish forward Martin Braithwaite, who reports claim he is on the radar of an unnamed Saudi Arabian club side.

According to reports, the 31-year-old has interests in England and Spain, but the former Middlesbrough player prefers a move out of Spain.

Although the move to the Middle East with a Saudi Arabian club side is on the table, Braithwaite wants to sort out his wage issues at the club by demanding his two-year salary be paid before terminating his contract.

This is because Barcelona wants the player to terminate his contract so that he can leave the club as a free agent, but the player still has two years left on his current contract. The club is hoping to reach an agreement with him to lower the payable amount, but just like De Jong, Braithwaite doesn’t agree to such an arrangement.

The 31-year-old was left out of the club’s tour of the US and was informed to search for a new club in the new season. Barcelona signed Braithwaite in 2020 for €18M from Leganes.

Several sources claim that Al Nassr and Al Shabab are the Saudi clubs bidding for Braithwaite.

Written by: Daniel Ademiju Idowu