Barcelona meet with Marcos Alonso’s agent to close deal for Chelsea left-back | OneFootball

Barcelona might not have worked out how to register their signings for this season, but that is not stopping them from continuing to plough ahead with transfers. According to Sport, a deal with Chelsea for Marcos Alonso is close to being done.

The Catalan daily say that Alonso’s agent, Fali Ramadani, is in Barcelona to meet with the club. A deal should be closed between the two and it will merely remain for Barcelona to pull the trigger. Fabrizio Romano also reported that a deal was on the verge of completion.

The Blaugrana have asked Alonso to wait for them to solve their registration issues before they complete the deal, something they are hoping to do this week. Alonso has supposedly asked manager Thomas Tuchel not to play him while until his future is resolved.

If and when the deal is completed, which should be for a fee approaching €10m, it will in turn lead to the departure of Alejandro Balde. The 18-year-old has been impressive in preseason, but Alonso’s arrival will mean a loan move for Balde so that he can continue developing.

Given Alonso is 31, some have questioned the wisdom of spending cash on an ageing defender to back up Jordi Alba rather than giving his minutes to Balde. However manager Xavi Hernandez has been clear that he wants two quality alternatives in each position and Balde does remain somewhat untested.