The real barrier to Barcelona signing Kimmich isn’t the price tag | OneFootball

Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images

It would appear that FC Barcelona are biting more than they can chew at times. The Catalans, despite their best efforts, are finding new kinds of hurdles in almost every operation they pursue. However, the clock is always ticking, and Barcelona need to find some solid answers sooner rather than later.

Yet, Barcelona has multiple options in the transfer market who they are hoping to go after. One priority in particular is that of signing a new pivot, and Barcelona have a number of alternatives for that specific role. The problem with each alternative is unique, but the financial requirements of a certain German target are beyond Barça’s capabilities.

According to SPORT, the transfer fee involved in signing Joshua Kimmich from Bayern will not be the main problem Barcelona will have to end up enduring. Instead, it would be the salary that the player ends up demanding that would simply be too much for the Blaugranes to sustain.

Beyond the reported €30-40 million that Bayern want for their German superstar, Barcelona would also have to agree personal terms with the player. Kimmich, aged 29, is one of the highest earners in the Bayern squad and SPORT reports that he would demand close to €20 million a year from Barcelona as well.

Those figures reach the heights of the payments received by the likes of Robert Lewandowski, Frenkie De Jong, and Ilkay Gundogan. That is already telling because Barcelona consider those contracts to be unsustainable. At least in Gundogan’s case, the player arrived as a free transfer from Manchester City.

Speaking of the English team from Manchester, they are the likely competition for Barcelona to remain aware of when even thinking of signing Kimmich. The Premier League champions have been interested in Kimmich’s services for a long time, and they have the financial means to make his transfer a reality as well.

Ultimately, the timing of things will need to be perfect for Barcelona to even manage something. Kimmich has one more year left on his contract, and he would be open to playing it with Bayern to simply leave on a free transfer by 2025. This would suit Barcelona, but the chances of the player getting snatched up by some other club before that are also worrying.