The situation
Jordi Alba’s no to Inter Milan’s offer has had more than one collateral effect. The first, and thickest, is the ‘overbooking’ that Xavi Hernández will have in the left lane, since apart from the captain, there will also be Alejandro Balde , who has pleasantly surprised the coaches and who will continue in the dynamic of the first team all season , and Marcos Alonso , the signing longed for from the beginning by the technicians to promote competition on the left side. Three players for a position, where in principle Alba starts with a certain disadvantage, as has been confirmed at the beginning of the season, where after starting on the first day against Rayo, he has ‘sucked’ the bench in the next two. The other effect of the ‘no’ of the Spanish international curiously affects the other side, the right. And it is that Alba’s departure would have released almost 9 million gross, since Inter promised to pay 60% of his file, for which enough salary margin was released to face the option of the Belgian side of Borussia de Dortmund, Thomas Meunier , the one chosen by Xavi to reinforce the right lane, after the frustrated signings of César Azpilicueta and Juan Foyth. However, Meunier’s option fell this morning after it was confirmed that Alba would stay in Barcelona.
The details
In fact, ‘Mundo Deportivo’ explained that the Blaugrana club called Héctor Bellerín today to inform him that he was the one chosen to reinforce the right wing , since his arrival did not compromise ‘fair play’ by landing with the letter of freedom under the arm and accepting to charge much less than at Arsenal. It must be taken into account that the signing of Meunier implied a transfer of close to 12 million euros , an amount that had to be amortized for the years he was going to play, and that already accounted for a part in the first season within the ‘fair play ‘, to which you had to add your file. Figures that could only be addressed in the event that a high record left the club. Thus, with the departures of Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, Sergiño Dest and Martin Braithwaite, Barcelona will be able to finish certifying the operations of Marcos Alonso and Héctor Bellerín, thus closing the squad.