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Barcelona have been considerably weakened over the course of the summer transfer window. Losing top stars like Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann will affect Barcelona's title aspirations. But the club are already planning ahead of the winter transfer window.
Without further ado, let's take a look at the top stories involving Barcelona from 2 September 2021.
Gerard Pique trolls Real Madrid over failed move for Kylian Mbappe
Real Madrid launched a €200 million bid to sign Kylian Mbappe from Paris Saint-Germain in the closing stages of the summer transfer window. However, the Ligue 1 outfit rejected the bid and Real Madrid failed to sign the one player they desperately wanted.
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Barcelona veteran Gerard Pique did not miss the opportunity to take a dig at the club's arch-rivals. Spanish newspaper Marca conducted a poll asking fans what shirt number Mbappe would adopt at Real Madrid. It was suggested that Mbappe might even have taken the number 7 shirt off Eden Hazard.
Around 40,000 votes were registered on Twitter over four days but the move didn't work out. So Pique took to Twitter and posted the screenshot of the Marca article and captioned it 'El 7', an evident dig at the bitter rivals.
Ilaix Moriba criticizes Barcelona over 'unfair treatment'
Ilaix Moriba has joined RB Leipzig from Barcelona. The deal is worth £13 million (rising to £19 million with add-ons). Moriba is a product of Barcelona's famed youth academy 'La Masia'. The club decided to offload the 18-year-old after they couldn't find an agreement over the terms of a new deal.
Upon joining Leipzig, Moriba has opened upon the last few months of his stint at Barcelona and slammed his former club for the 'unfair treatment' meted out to him. Manager Ronald Koeman had even gone on to say that Moriba ought to value money over experience. Moriba said (via Goal):
“The last few months have been the hardest of my life. We [my family] have received abusive messages but we have been able to get over it to be here today.
“I don’t deserve these messages. They [people at the club] have said many things that are not true and we have had to keep tight-lipped because of the respect that we have for Barcelona. The things that they have said in the press have not been fair.”
Barcelona keen to sign Dani Olmo in January
Barcelona are in need of strengthening their attack. Mundo Deportivo claim that Barcelona are interested in signing RB Leipzig winger Dani Olmo when the transfer window reopens in January.
As per the report, Barcelona made an attempt to sign Olmo on deadline day but were put off by RB Leipzig's €75 million valuation. The 23-year-old spent seven years between 2007 and 2014 at La Masia and is reportedly keen to return to the Camp Nou.
Barcelona are hoping RB Leipzig will be ready to enter into negotiations over a fee once the dust has settled on the summer transfer window.
