Saudi Arabia will once again be on the hunt for star power to add credit to their international brand this summer, and after missing out on Mohamed Salah, will no doubt be looking for a marquee signing still. Barcelona are likely to be in need of sales again to balance their accounts somewhat, certainly if they want to strengthen their squad due to their salary limit issues.
According to Sport, four of Barcelona’s stars are on the Saudi Arabia to become major signings. Al-Hilal are the Saudi giant most desperate to bring in a star name after losing Neymar Junior this January, and they approached Raphinha last summmer too, but were met with a rejection. That seems likely to be the case again, although the Blaugrana have set an asking price for the Brazilian. Currently there are talks over a renewal, but there are differences over the length of the deal and the numbers.
Meanwhile Al-Nassr are on the lookout for central defenders, a position Barcelona are well-stocked at. They would be interested in Jules Kounde or Ronald Araujo, even if Barcelona are more keen to offload Andreas Christensen this summer. Araujo has a release clause of €65m, but Barcelona’s response, as is the case with Raphinha, is ‘no – for now’. Saudi delegates have in recent days traveled to Barcelona to enquire about any potential deals though.
Ter Stegen will soon get the medical green light, and could travel to Sevilla to be in the squad for the Copa del Rey final. @AdriaAlbets
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) April 22, 2025
Finally, Al-Ittihad remain interested in Frenkie de Jong. He too has a difficult contract negotiation with Barcelona coming in the next couple of months, but has reportedly turned down an offer from Saudi Arabia of late, and is focused on staying at Barcelona.
In all of these cases, including that of Christensen, the question for Barcelona and Saudi Arabia will be whether the player can be convinced to leave a side competing for the Champions League to head to the Middle East. At the time of writing, it looks unlikely, but once again Barcelona will go into the summer knowing that a major sale could be highly beneficial for their accounts.
