Barcelona Transfer News: Catalans could sign Leganes’ Martin Braithwaite on Wednesday

Barcelona could complete the transfer of Martin Braithwaite from Leganes on Wednesday, Marca reports. The Catalans have been provided with the opportunity to sign a replacement for Ousmane Dembele, who is out for the rest of the season, and have zeroed in on the Danish striker as the ideal man to fill in the boots of the Frenchman.

The player’s agent has been undergoing talks with the Spanish giants in the last few days and was reportedly at the Barcelona training ground for a considerable amount of time on Tuesday to fine-tune the details.

Braithwaite has 8 goals and 2 assists from 25 appearances for Los Pepineros this season and is a striker who can also play on the wings. He is skilful on the ball and is averaging 1.5 dribbles and 1.8 shots per game in La Liga so far. He has been indispensable for his team in their quest to stay in La Liga, so the club is not willing to enter into any negotiations with the Blaugrana for the player. However, Leganes might be powerless to stop the player from moving.

Barcelona set to trigger Braithwaite’s release clause

The Catalans are set to pay Braithwaite’s release clause of €20m, as Quique Setien wants the Dane to be in his squad for the weekend’s home game against Eibar. That effectively puts the deal out of the hands of Leganes, who have approached La Liga with a desire to replace Braithwaite. However, according to the rules, only a long term injury to a player allows a club to sign a replacement, as has been the case with Barcelona and Dembele. As such, Leganes are resigned to losing the player without signing a replacement.