Barcelona set 23-day deadline to pay €25m for defender

The Nico Williams saga showed that Barcelona have money to spend this summer, despite their well-documented financial problems. Having already spent €25m on Joan Garcia, the La Liga champions had been prepared to pay €62m for the winger before he signed a new deal with Athletic Club. But despite this, those funds have not disappeared.

As well as signing a new left winger, Barcelona intend to address their defensive options – particularly at right-back. Jules Kounde is the undisputed starter, but in Eric Garcia and Hector Fort, his backups can be improved upon. And that is where Denzel Dumfries comes into the equation.

Dumfries, who haunted Barcelona during their Champions League semi-final defeat to Inter last season, has a €25m release clause, and according to reports, the Catalans are considering whether to activate this.

Barcelona’s interest in Dumfries is concrete, but they are running out of the time to make a move to sign him. As per Sky Italia (via Sport), the release clause that the 29-year-old has is only active until the 31st of July, meaning that there are only 23 days remaining until it runs out.

Inter are not expected to consider selling Dumfries upon the expiry of his €25m release clause, meaning that Barcelona will quickly need to make a decision on the matter.

At this stage, Barcelona would like to sign Dumfries, but despite having the money available to pay his release clause, they will not sanction a move unless one of their defenders leave. Andreas Christensen and Ronald Araujo are candidates, and if either one were to depart in the coming weeks, it would free up a significant portion of salary space that would make it more likely for the Netherlands international to be registered upon arrival in Catalonia.