Hansi Flick will start identify Barcelona’s transfer shortlist from next week, and one of the areas that will be addressed is in defensive midfield. The German coach wants a reunion with Joshua Kimmich, while Real Sociedad’s Mikel Merino is also high in his thoughts. This is bad news for Guido Rodriguez, who had been close to being the Catalans’ first signing of the summer.

Rodriguez is expected to leave Real Betis when his contract expires at the end of this month, and he had a verbal agreement in place with Barcelona. However, that ended on the 31st of May, and although there was still a chance that a deal could be done in the coming weeks, Matteo Moretto has confirmed that this is very unlikely to be the case.

Rodriguez was expected to be the replacement for Oriol Romeu, who will almost certainly leave after only one season. It seems more likely that Barcelona will promote from within, with Marc Casado a strong candidate to be in Flick’s squad for next season.