Barcelona open preliminary talks with sought-after Crystal Palace defender amid defensive reinforcement plans.
The La Liga champions are conscious of the need to reshape their backline for the medium term, with questions over depth, durability, and succession planning in central defence pushing the sporting department to act early ahead of 2026.
Club figures see this profile as tailor-made for Hansi Flick’s high line: aggressive in duels, composed on the ball, and comfortable defending large spaces, while also bringing leadership qualities that have sometimes been lacking in Barcelona’s back four in recent seasons.
However, the operation is complicated by the scale of competition from across Europe and the reality of Barça’s financial limits, which leave little room for a drawn-out bidding war and place a premium on timing, convincing sporting arguments, and the player’s own preferences.
The defender in question is Crystal Palace standout Marc Guehi, whose contract situation and development in the Premier League have turned him into one of the most coveted centre-backs on the market, according to journalist Patrick Berger of Sky Sport Germany
Barcelona have made their interest known to the player’s camp and view him as a realistic option if they can construct a financially viable proposal built around his long-term role at Camp Nou.
Yet Real Madrid, Liverpool, and Bayern Munich are all firmly in the race, each able to offer strong sporting projects and, in some cases, greater financial muscle, raising the stakes around any potential agreement.
Within this context, Barcelona is working to convince Guehi that he would be a central piece of their next defensive era rather than just another addition to the rotation.
Even so, with top clubs circling and Crystal Palace aware they may need to decide on his future sooner rather than later, this developing saga has all the ingredients to become one of the defining defensive transfer stories of the coming window.
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