La Liga Leaks: All the fallout from Barca signing Andre Gomes

One story dominates the majority of back pages in Spain and that is of Andre Gomes signing for Barcelona. The young Portuguese star, currently on holiday after winning Euro 2016, has been subject of intense speculation ever since the transfer window opened but not many expected him to join Barcelona. Least not their main rivals.

The Madrid-based media placed Andre Gomes as the number one target to strengthen Real Madrid’s squad this summer after a move for Paul Pogba appeared to be too expensive, even for them. Headlines said the move was very close, articles had already been written about where he would fit in and how his main role would be to help give Luka Modric a rest. Then he signed for Barcelona.

Damage control from Madrid press

As you can probably imagine, the fans of both sides love to get one over on the other and this news is no different. No one, however, is willing to take the ‘loss’. Catalan media are firmly behind the notion that Real were working on a deal to bring Gomes in but Barcelona made a late bid, Valencia accepted, and that was all she wrote. Plus the player himself wanted to join Barcelona over Real.

Over in MARCA headquarters they say the reason a move for Andre Gomes didn’t come to fruition was because Los Blancos pulled out of the move. Apparently Florentino Perez wasn’t willing to part with the €50m necessary to sign Gomes without making a place for him in the squad first. This was supposed to come from James Rodriguez’s exit but his agent, the same as Gomes’, told Madrid officials his client wanted to stay and fight for his place.

AS stick with the ‘Madrid pulled out of the move’ consensus but claim it was Valencia’s greed - and need - for players that caused the deal to fall through. They say Valencia - or Peter Lim - demanded Nacho, Mateo Kovacic and Marco Asensio or Jese Rodriguez to move in the opposite direction. Madrid baulked at the demands and, along with James’ desire to stay, made it a non-starter.

Did Barca include players as makeweights?

When the news broke late last night, there were figures and players being banded about by every media outlet from Valencia to Barcelona, all saying something different. As Los Che are yet to make an official announcement (at the time of writing this) it’s all a bit unclear as to whether players from Barcelona will be included in the deal or not.

Martin Montoya was the first name to be mentioned. According to Superdeporte he will arrive on loan. Montoya would make sense seeing as they’ve already sold Antonio Barragan to Middlesborough and now need cover for Joao Cancelo, who is the only natural right-back in the first team squad at the moment.

Since then we’ve seen the names of Cristian Tello and Sergi Samper added to the list of possible exchanges. Now it’s a complicated situation for Valencia as if those moves are included as part of the Gomes’ deal, Benfica would be entitled to some form of compensation. It wouldn’t surprise me to see any potential moves be claimed as separate deals to avoid that scenario, but who knows?

What do they make of it all in Valencia?

There’s a lot of shock - and anger - right now in Valencia. I suppose after the last 12 months you could argue that’s a permanent state due to the club’s failings on and off the pitch. However the anger isn’t at the sale of Andre Gomes per se, more that the fee is considerably lower than they expected - especially when you remember the calibre of sides interested in Gomes.

Plaza Deportiva’s Hector Gomez states that owner Peter Lim and director of football Suso Garcia Pitarch met with Barcelona chief Robert Fernandez to seal the late deal on Thursday. The player himself is well liked by everyone at Barcelona, especially Luis Enrique, and that was the key driving force behind getting the move done.

In the same article it states Real Madrid’s interest was real and that they’d pushed “very hard” to get the deal done. Internally, Valencia had begun to speak of Andre Gomes as an ex-Valencia player due to how convinced they were he’d end up in Madrid. Suso didn’t want to sell to Real and preferred to do business with a foreign club. Lim took charge and sold him to Barcelona instead.

Will this trigger one or two exits from Barcelona’s current squad?

We’ve all been expecting Barcelona to splash the cash on a new striker but the signing of Andre Gomes opens up another potential problem at the club: keeping everyone happy. Not long after the deal was announced one of Ivan Rakitic’s representatives tweeted: “It’s time to leave.” He later clarified it was in reference to how much competition there was for places but that his client was unequivocally happy at the club.

It does beg the question as to where Gomes will play and to the detriment of whom. Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta are mainstays in midfield and they were joined by Rakitic for the majority of last season. Factor in Arda Turan, Samper, Rafinha, Sergi Roberto (although likely to play right-back next season) and fellow new signing Denis Suarez and it’s hard to see all of them remaining at the club.

Mundo Deportivo claim it doesn’t necessary mean someone will leave but with that striker situation still to be resolved, it would make sense for one or two to leave in order to free up more funds. The most obvious choice, due to the fact his cache is still quite high, would be Arda Turan. Arsenal are said to be interested in him according to media reports in England.

Is the transfer merry-go-round about to start? Can Real Madrid remain inactive all summer, knowing they face a potential transfer ban for the next two transfer windows? Can Barcelona keep everyone happy and still afford to buy a new striker?