Five Barcelona players who could leave in January

Barcelona are getting back to their best.

In the first season of the Hansi Flick era, Barcelona are re-finding the style and swagger that saw them dominate European football for a decade.

The Blaugrana are top of La Liga and sit second in the Champions League as well. They’ve already smashed Real Madrid (0-4) and Bayern Munich (4-1).

However, the club is still in a precarious position financially. The much-vaunted Nike deal has not been enough to return them to a FFP compliant state (the fabled “1:1” where they can spend whatever money they bring in) and so they are still restricted.

READ MORE: Ronaldo to join Messi at Club World Cup?

With that in mind, they may be forced into selling players against their will in order to generate funds to get players registered. They may not want to sell anyone, but the may not have a choice.

Below, FootballTransfers looks at five players who could leave Barcelona in January…

1. Frenkie de Jong

Frenkie de Jong has been linked with a Barcelona exit for over a year now, as the Dutchman’s deferred salary has seen him grossly overpaid within the constraints of the Blaugrana’s new wage structure.

Frenkie’s wages would be hard to swallow even if he was playing at the peak of his powers, but instead the Dutchman is miles off his best and is lumbering around the field quite clearly still impacted by the ankle injury he got last season.

De Jong opted to avoid surgery, but that decision has backfired as the ankle took forever to heal and now it has, the Dutchman seems to have lost all the explosiveness he once possessed in droves.

Frenkie’s desire to stay in Barcelona with his partner and new child, living out their dream together, could complicate a move but long-term suitors Bayern Munich, Man Utd and Paris Saint-Germain could offer a viable exit.

2. Ansi Fati

Before Lamine Yamal, there was Ansu Fati. The original 16 year-old wonderkid, Ansu has been struggling massively since a knee injury derailed his promising young career years ago.

Barcelona have always tried to help him get back to his best, but a loan spell at Brighton last season didn’t work and now he’s spent 2024/25 either looking spent or being injured.

READ MORE: Should Man City SACK Pep Guardiola?!

To compound matters he earns more wages than all but a handful of his team-mates, and so Barcelona would be keen to sell him. And with Jorge Mendes as his agent there is no shortage of clubs where he could end up, Wolverhampton being chief among them, but also he has been linked with a move to Sevilla.

3. Andreas Christensen

Barcelona are generally happy with Andreas Christensen. The Danish defender has, when fit, been a wonderfully reliable centre-back and defensive midfielder.

“When fit” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence, however, as Christensen has been plagued by minor injury after minor injury since arriving in Catalunya.

More, he barely seems able to complete 90 minutes, let alone a full season. He is currently out injured after recovering from surgery (that Barcelona hope will fix his problems) but given Barcelona’s need to generate funds and the fact that Christensen arrived for free so any transfer fee would be pure profit on the FFP books, a sale cannot be ruled out with Newcastle United a possible destination.

4. Eric Garcia

Eric Garcia joined Barcelona amid much hype from fans (and previous manager Pep Guardiola) but what culers soon found out was that while Garcia read the game like a genius and was superb on the ball and a wonderful leader, he had all the physical presence of a packet of crisps.

Being that science has not yet advanced to the point where Barcelona can implant Garcia’s brain in a bigger, stronger body, he has fallen down the pecking order and is now just the second-choice back-up defensive midfielder. And a January sale has been mooted, possibly to Girona where he had a prosperous loan spell last season.

READ MORE: Roy Keane says Man Utd should SELL Marcus Rashford

5. Dani Olmo

The last possible sale will be baffling to some, as it’s Dani Olmo. And while others on this list have underperformed, Dani Olmo has been magnificent.

6 goals in 13 games doesn’t tell the whole story of how Dani Olmo has looked a hand-in-glove fit as Barcelona’s no. 10.

However, Barcelona only managed to register Dani Olmo thanks to a loophole using part of the injured Ronald Araujo’s salary. But Araujo is fit again, and so Dani Olmo becomes unregistered once again.

If Barcelona are unable to raise the funds to register Olmo, he could become a free agent and leave the Camp Nou for absolutely nothing, a prospect that would entice the likes of Liverpool who were linked with the attacking midfielder before he choice to head home to Barcelona this summer.