FC Barcelona 2025 Transfer Wrap Up: Frimpong, Nico Williams, Rashford, Rafael Leao & Grimaldo

Okay, so I do want to make a video about the latest Barcelona transfer rumors. And the reason why is because I do have a question coming from Christian. I was going to say Christiansen because I'm just so used to saying Christiansen because of you know, we support Barcelona. We have a defender named Christiansen. But yeah, his name is Christian. If you guys also have like any other questions that they want answered, put them in the Discord group chat. I'm going to leave a link down below that is going to be, once again, a group chat. You guys can ask me anything. You guys can talk about football, talk about FC Barcelona, or talk about random things. We also have a tab for that. But yeah, Christian did ask. There are rumors of potentially signing four players this summer. Rafael Leal, Nico Williams, Marcus Rashford, Frimpong, and Grimaldo. Which of these rumors do you see very realistic of us signing? Or do you think we can sign all of the what? Oh yeah. Or do you think we can sign all of them? Would you have to either choose? Would have to choose either Leal or Nico Williams? Okay, so great question, Christian. And thank you for that question. And again, once again, I want to remind everybody here, if you guys want to have your questions answered, just put them down and I might pick one of you guys. I'm only going to pick one out of like six or seven that are available in the chat. So let's talk about that. First things first, I want to get this one question out the way. If you were to ask me, who do you think should be coming to Barcelona? Nico or Leal? I will tell you Nico Williams only because he has LaLiga experience, because he knows La Minimal, he knows Dani Olmo, he knows Fedan Torres, he knows multiple players in Barcelona already. And I know that maybe sportingly, maybe Leal has a higher capacity to reach bigger numbers, a bigger level. I understand that. But you guys will understand why I'm picking Nico Williams over Leal. Because financially, it just does not seem feasible. So I would just say Nico Williams over Leal. So to go back to my original point, first things first, we have to understand Barcelona's financial position. It's not pretty. And the only reason why it's not pretty is because of LaLiga and the restrictions and nothing more. I continue to say this. You know, Joan Laporta has said time and time again that they're doing everything possible to make Barcelona, you know, go into a much better financial position. But unfortunately, Javier Tabas likes to create these rules and say, oh yeah, you made income based off the new Spotify cam new, but you can only use 10% of that. Oh yeah, you sold this player, but you can only use like 10% of that. Like he's going to come out with things like that. He's going to change the rules like what he did back in December 2024. By changing the rules, it did not allow for players like Pablo Victor and Daniel Olmo to not get registered. And that is why in that whole saga back in January 2025, which is like five months ago, everybody was saying like, oh, Barcelona broke the financial fair play rules. That is why Daniel Olmo and Pablo Victor might not be able to be registered in LaLiga. Well, that is all cap. It's lies. It's people just spreading like these ridiculous rumors and the media not translating what's actually going on. And that is simply because Javier Tabas changed the rules and whatever rule he did change that was not implemented back in August when they brought in Pablo Victor and Daniel Olmo. It is what ultimately led towards Daniel Olmo and Pablo Victor not being registered five months down the line. So it's ridiculous, right? And we had, right? We had a good reason to bring in Daniel Olmo and Pablo Victor. That's because Kristiansen was injured. Anderstein was it? Kristiansen was injured, but mainly because of Kristiansen. Andres Kristiansen. And I think it was also because of Ronald Arujo. Our argument was that, oh, yeah, because Kristiansen is going to be out for the rest of the season. Arujo is not going to be with us until like the midseason. That's what's going to allow us to bring in the players that we want in like Daniel Olmo and register them in. But Javier Tabas, unfortunately, said like a few months later in December, he's like, no, you can't. You can't use Kristiansen's injury as an excuse to bring in the players that you want. Like literally six months later. I don't know why he couldn't say that back in August, but it is what it is. But I want you guys to understand the atmosphere and the environment that we are working in because it's very tough. So apparently to them, Barcelona's over budget. They may need to sell players in order for us to bring new players in. Maybe Ferran. Maybe Rafinha. Maybe we might let go of Daniel Olmo. Maybe something crazy. Frankie De Jong. Who knows? I'm just calling out random names. I'm not saying that's going to be exactly these players that I've just said, but that's just an example. We might have to sell players to bring in new players in. We also have to make sure that the release clauses are reasonable, that the wages are also reasonable as well and manageable. So with that taken into account, I would say that if there were two players that I believe would be financially feasible, I would say Marcus Rashford and Philippe Pong. And I say that because with Rashford, he's a winger. He costs 46 million euros. The realism of him coming to Barcelona is very high. He did offer himself to Barcelona recently through the agent of Pini Zavi. He loves FC Barcelona. And I saw a comment coming from Rashford in social media. I think he was complimenting one of our players or something like that. I think it was like La Minimal. I'm not sure, but he was complimenting what Barcelona recently just did against Real Madrid. And so you can just tell that Rashford does have interest in joining the club. And once again, his fee is manageable. He's a very versatile attacker. He can play in the number nine position. He can play on the right wing position, in the central attacking midfield position, in the left wing position and everything in between. Rashford is that guy. He's versatile. And versatile players are always welcomed, just like how a player like Errol Garcia is always welcomed because he can play in multiple positions. And the same thing with Firmino Lopez. Same thing with Rafinha. They are always welcomed. So with Rashford, it's very likely that we can bring him in if Barcelona are interested. So I will give that the green light. Moving on towards the other player, Philippe Pong. Philippe Pong is going to allow us to get into a position where we can say, we can do a 3-5-2 formation. We can do a 3-4-2-1 formation, right? Philippe Pong is a wingback. A pure right wingback. He's not a right back. I think that it will be a mistake for us to say that Philippe Pong can be the ideal replacement to Jules Koundé or a reinforcement on the right back position. No, Philippe Pong, in some way, he is a defensive liability. He does make a lot of mistakes. He's not the most reliable. I would much rather have Jules Koundé. And I think that, you know, we can have the argument of saying, oh yeah, but Philippe Pong can be our right back for the matches against Alaves and maybe those matches against, you know, those little small teams. I don't know. Name any team that you want in the league. I'm not trying to disrespect any Spanish team. But I still think that even if we face those lower level teams, they can still do damage against us. We know how hard this league is. So I would not like to put all my bets on Philippe Pong as our primary right back to be the second choice of Jules Koundé. No, thank you. He is a right wing back. And so he's going to offer us the ability to use a back three with a five-man midfield. Having Jules Koundé on the right center back position in that back three with Philippe Pong on the right wing back position would be amazing. Up top, you can have La Minimal and Lewandowski or whoever. I don't know. Maybe Danny Olmo and La Minimal. It would be, once again, amazing. So his release clause is going to be 40 million euros. It's very much feasible. That can happen. That's less than how much we pay for Danny Olmo. That's less than how much we bidded for Nico Williams back in August 2024. So it's going to be easy. If we want Philippe Pong, we can make it happen. And Barcelona, once again, they do need a long-term solution to Jules Koundé and trying to give him some rest. And I think that in some cases, Philippe Pong can be that guy. And maybe Hansi Flick has a plan. Maybe Hansi Flick has a plan of saying, I know how to train Philippe Pong. I know that I can make him better defensively. And it's going to be manageable. Just like how we thought that retaining Rafinha is going to be manageable by making him the best Brazilian, the best left winger, the best balon d'oro contender in the world. So you never know with these coaches. Hansi Flick is a genius. So I would say that we are going to be having competition. So if Bayern Leverkusen want to welcome a bidding war, Barcelona's out the race. Because if Liverpool get into this bidding war, it's a wrap. Liverpool do need the replacement for Trent. Because Trent is going to be joining the nurses. Or what do you call? Not Women FC. Not Cheaters FC. What was the name? Real Madrid. Real Madrid, that team. The team that likes to cheat, I heard. But yeah, Alexander Trent is going to be joining Real Madrid alongside with Xabi Alonso. And Liverpool is going to need a reinforcement for that position. And that is why they're going to be or might be looking at Frimpong. So Barcelona, if they have interest, and Liverpool also have interest, a bidding war might happen there. And I don't think that Barcelona are going to want to raise the price from 40 million euros to maybe 45 to 50 million euros. It's going to be ugly. Moving on towards the next one, Grimaldo. I would say that there is like a medium chance and realism of this happening. He's a left back. Estimated fee is 40 million euros. But the thing is, is that even though he is at the same price Dude, the right back position and the left back position are two very different stories, okay? Because we have a player like Jules Koundé who does need some rest sometimes, right? If Koundé needs rest, we can just remove Jules Koundé out, put in Koubarse in a 3-5-2 formation, put Koubarse in the right center back position and put Frimpong on the right wing back position. With Grimaldo and that whole left back position thing, it's a whole other different conversation because we have two players on the left back position that are really good. And that is Gerard Martín and Alejandro Ballet. I know that you guys are going to be saying, Kevin, come on, like you always talk about Gerard Martín. Has he not disappointed you enough? Like what is with you? You just like him too much. You're trying to overrate him. Bro, I already told you guys my opinion about Gerard Martín. Gerard Martín is very young. He just joined FC Barcelona. I think that for his first season at Barcelona, he did really good. I know that he's not at the same level of Alejandro Ballet in the final third in the attack. I get it. I know you guys want to see the flair and the pace and whatever. But defensively, if you're solid as a left back, we need that. And that's something that's very important. You don't see that a lot from left backs. You don't see that a lot from right backs. We need a reliable defender, somebody who can defend, okay? Defend their area. Gerard Martín is that guy. Would I put my bets on Gerard Martín as an all-time great Roberto Carlos alternative? No, of course not. He's not going to be that guy. It's not him. Even though he provided two assists against Inter Milan, right? I know you guys don't want to call that out. But you know, I understand. I understand that people want to see more of a high volume type of left back that attacks the final third over and over again. And I get it, right? I want Alejandro Ballet as my main left back all the time, 100% of the time. In terms of a backup, Gerard Martín is very decent. I just don't see us wasting 40 million euros on the left back position when we're going to have three total players in that position next season. That's a waste. That is a complete waste. Unless you tell me that Gerard Martín is going to be sold for 20 million euros or 50 million euros, okay, then fine. We might have a conversation there. But as of now, Gerard Martín is not going to go anywhere. Alejandro Ballet is a definitive starter. Not going to happen. And then lastly comes Rafael Leal. This is the reason why I choose Nico over Leal. It's simply because Leal is going to be costing around 85 to 100 million euros. AC Milan are not going to want anything less. And that's just a fact. That is it. The realism on this is very low. He left Jorge Mendes, right? That's his name, the agent, Jorge Mendes. And we have a close relationship with Jorge Mendes. He's a great agent and somebody who works very closely with Joan Laporta. But now Rafael Leal left his agency. So it's just not going to happen. And there's teams like Chelsea and Liverpool, two powerhouses in the Premier League, they can spend all the money in the world that they want. The Premier League is like, yeah, yeah, sure. Spend 100 million, 150, 180, it's fine. Spend whatever. We don't care. There's no cap. Screw it. So when you have teams like Chelsea and Liverpool spending that amount of money and causing this bidding war, Barcelona are going to get out. And Leal is just not going to be interested. He's going to want the money. I get it. He's 26, 27 years old at the prime of his career. If he were to leave, he's going to want to find the best deal, the best money deal. And the transfer fee, way too high. It's just not going to happen. That is why I do choose Nico Williams over Leal. Now, my honest opinion, right? We talked about Rashford as a player who is financially very feasible. A player like Frimpong, it makes a lot of sense. It gives us more of a dynamic sportingly, like being able to be very flexible in different formations. I would say that in the end, there are only two positions that I want to see be reinforced. And I mean this with like 100%. It's going to be the left wing position and the right back position. I want Frimpong and I want Nico Williams. I know that there is a lot of conversations on the striker position, but there's not a big market. There's not like there's barely any players. I would have ideally liked to sign Erling Haaland, but he just signed a nine-year contract. I mean, bro, I bet you, I bet you like in the future. The only reason why Man City did that was because they wanted to retain a high release cost on Erling Haaland because they know that secretly he might move somewhere else in about two or three years. It might happen this summer. It might happen next summer, but for sure, that nine-year deal at the very least did guarantee them to sign Haaland. I mean to sell Haaland at a high price. And so ideally for me, I would like Erling Haaland, but I don't even know how much Man City are going to be asking for. I have no idea. So I would just say that right now, there's not a big market. And dude, like I have a lot of, a lot of ideas on how I think Barcelona should move for the next season. Like I want to see Rafinha as a 10. I talked about this in my previous video. I would like to see Rafinha as a 10 because I think that he can move in different positions in different areas of the pitch and still be very effective. We have already seen Rafinha as a 10, right? I know that he literally does not wear the number 10 shirt because everybody was saying that Minimal should be the number 10. Bro, the number thing is irrelevant. The number, like what number you wear on your shirt is irrelevant. It has nothing to do with whatever areas you're going to be occupying, right? So to me, as of now, with the skill sets that Minimal has, he deserves to be on the right wing position for the next three or four years. We'll see how it does evolve in three or four years. Okay. Like Rafinha is going to be gone most likely in three or four years. Maybe in time, he might act as a false line, as a pure 10, like what Messi did throughout his career. But as of now, he is a right winger. And I would like to see Rafinha on the number 10 position, literally as the Central African midfielder next season with Nico Williams on the left, right? That is the reason why I opted for Nico Williams is because I want Nico on the left. I no longer want to have that whole idea and that agenda and conversation about that, you know, Nico Williams and Rafinha should be our main options on the left wing position, and they should be fighting for that position. I no longer think that because I don't want to see any of these players get their minutes reduced because Rafinha is just too damn good. He's just too damn good. A year ago, we were all saying that, yeah, Nico Williams should be the competitor to Rafinha for us, Rafinha to get better because what he did last season was not so great. But with Rafinha doing what he did this season under Hansi, it is exceptional. It is Balon d'Or worthy. And I just do not want to drop Rafinha only because Nico Williams is here. I want to see Rafinha in the number 10 position. It's going to allow him to interchange roles with Nico Williams on the left or La Minimal, right? And then there you have it. You have La Minimal sometimes going into the number 10 position with Rafinha on the right wing position. It just becomes very fluid and dynamic. And we need that under a team like FC Barcelona. So in terms of financial capability, what makes the most sense, only like screw the sporting conversation, financial capability, it is Frimpong and I would say Rashford. In terms of who we actually need sportingly, what would strengthen us sportingly, it would be Nico Williams and Frimpong. So that is going to be my conversation for today. Thank you again for that question that you put up, Christian. So two to three players max that we're probably going to be signing in the summer. Hopefully, if Javier Tebas lets us two or three players max, I don't see us having like a summer where we bring in four to five players. No way. Two to three, three is the freaking max on who we sign. So that is it. Thank you guys so much for watching and I will see you guys in the next one.