Barcelona did not make any changes to their first team squad during the winter transfer window, as no one arrived or left. However, that was not for the lack of trying on both counts.
Barcelona wanted to bring in Marcus Rashford on a loan deal from Manchester United, but a deal ended up being impossible because an exit was needed for the salary space required to be freed up. The player that the club wanted to go was Ansu Fati, although despite being told that he is not counted on by head coach Hansi Flick, he decided to stay in Catalonia.
Fati did have interest, as the likes of Fenerbahce were linked with a move. Closer the home, Sevilla were also keen, although Barcelona did not allow a deal to happen with their La Liga rivals, whom they have unilaterally severed institutional relations with in the last couple of years due to the Negreira case.
According to MD, it was Sevilla head coach Francisco Javier Garcia Pimienta that was pushing hard for Fati to be brought to the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan. Given that a deal proved impossible to pull off, he was left bitterly disappointed.
Sevilla ended up signing Ruben Vargas and Akor Adams from FC Augsburg and Montpellier respectively, so it was a fruitful winter transfer window for Los Nervionenses. However, they really wanted Fati, but their well-documented financial woes and their poor relationship with Barcelona meant that it was not to be.
Fati is bound to be available again in the summer, and at that time, Sevilla could look to make a renewed effort to bring the young attacker to the club. However, they would be relying on Barcelona making it easy for them, which could be wishful thinking.
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