Word out of Spain is that Barcelona are apparently willing to sell Jordi Alba this summer as he’s “no longer considered indispensable” (even though he’s started the vast majority of Barca’s matches this season) and his value is unlikely to grow any higher from this point. Barca have supposedly already identified Alba’s replacement in 19-year-old Theo Hernandez.
Barcelona ready to sell Jordi Alba this summer https://t.co/mc6rdmXnNu
— Indy Football (@IndyFootball) April 10, 2017
It should be noted that this story appears to originate not in the Catalan press but rather in Madrid’s own Marca and AS. Spain’s major newspapers are notoriously biased for/against either Real or Barcelona, and it’s easy to picture a scenario where the Madrid papers are running with this story just to stir up a few emotions.
Here’s Marca for example talking about how Alba’s played less than half the available minutes since the PSG defeat (all of a 9-match sample size). And here’s AS talking about how Alba’s apparently been talking to Spanish teammates at both Chelsea and Manchester United about what life is like in London and whether cookouts are really as tough to hold as Diego Costa would have you believe.
Jordi Alba asks Fàbregas and Pedro for the lowdown on Chelsea https://t.co/gEZo2bAM4R pic.twitter.com/hhB6Egvb5z
— AS English (@English_AS) April 11, 2017
Jordi Alba is expected to start in tonight’s match against Juventus, which isn’t exactly well timed as far as the believability of this rumor is concerned.
Alba does have three years left on his current contract, which means that unless Barcelona are truly looking to get rid of him, he won’t come cheaply. While Chelsea are no doubt in the market for another option at left back beyond just Marcos Alonso, a past-his-peak 28-year-old known for his speed and attacking prowess (i.e. an older, better Baba Rahman before his unfortunate ACL injury in January) is perhaps not the smartest solution.