After hearing that Arsenal was interested in acquiring Ferran Torres, Barcelona lowered their asking price

After hearing that Arsenal was interested in acquiring Ferran Torres, Barcelona lowered their asking price. The team based out of Camp Nou will need to raise a significant amount of money this summer.

According to Sport, Barcelona will reportedly accept any offseason offers for Torres. President of Blaugrana Joan Laporta views the 23-year-old as a potential selling point as the club tries to reduce its pay bill to comply with La Liga and Financial Fair Play regulations.

After discussions with Xavi and Laporta, the Catalan club has decided to make just six players transferable. Unfortunately, Torres has not yet established himself as a crucial player for Barcelona. In 32 games this season, he has just five goals and one assist to show for it.

Torres has only scored twice in his 21 La Liga appearances, just nine of which he has started. He hasn’t scored in the Spanish Primera Division since the month of October. All of his prior Champions League performances were in opposition to Viktoria Plzen.

With bids of €35m (£31m), Barcelona will release Torres for sale. The club acquired the services of the Spaniard from Manchester City in January 2022 for a total price of £46.5 million (with £8.5 million in add-ons). He signed a €1bn (£889m) deal with a release clause in 2027, guaranteeing him a weekly salary of £62k.

For the Blaugrana, the price of acquiring the forward with 35 career appearances essentially closed the door on a transfer during the most recent January window. Arsenal reportedly contacted Barcelona about acquiring Torres. The Athletic mentioned their interest as well but noted that he did not want to go.

In spite of this, Dean Jones claims that Torres was aware of Arsenal’s interest in acquiring his services from Barcelona during the aforementioned January transfer window. He was a secondary target for the Gunners after they failed to kill Mykhaylo Mudryk. As the club’s leader, Edu led negotiations to add talent to Mikel Arteta’s squad.

In light of Barcelona’s newfound willingness to sell, Arsenal may be tempted to renew their pursuit of Torres, a striker who was hailed “amazing” by Pep Guardiola. Laporta is in a frenzy to raise money after La Liga president Javier Tebas abandoned him. The team has been effectively prevented from recruiting new players by the Spanish Primera Division.

Tebas said, via quotes by the Daily Mail: “As of today, Barcelona doesn’t have any room in their budget to spend in the upcoming transfer window. Barcelona have been involved in questionable behaviour which has had an impact on La Liga and we are acting accordingly.

“We have ruled that they can no longer sign more players.” He added: “They have to drop from spending on wages and transfers from €650m (£578m) to €450m (£400m). So, it’s a budget of minus-€200m (£178m).”