Surprise signing? Barça does not rule out going for Alejandro Grimaldo

FC Barcelona remains attentive to the future of Alejandro Grimaldo. The youth player from Barcelona is one of the figures of Bayer Leverkusen with more interested clubs ahead of the next summer market, including Real Madrid. However, the 'culés' have fewer urgencies on the left side compared to a 'merengue' team in need of reinforcements throughout their defensive line.

For the moment, Barça seems to have the position well covered, with Alejandro Balde as a starter and Gerard Martín as a substitute. In addition, the price of the Valencia player (around 40 million euros), although not an unaffordable amount, is a high figure for the still narrow Barça salary margin.

Grimaldo added 4 goals and 13 assists in 48 games (3,869 minutes) in the 24/25 season with Xabi Alonso's team, more discreet records than in his first season in Germany (12G/20A), but still remarkable for a defender. In addition, the 29-year-old defender has admitted on several occasions his desire to return to LaLiga.

Alejandro Grimaldo, 'crazy' to return to Spain with a big team

"Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atlético are great. My club knows that my dream is to play in Spain again. It is a pride to be considered for any of these teams," said the defender in a recent chat with the 'COPE' network. In addition, the Spanish international also made it clear that his goal is to continue working to make the leap to a big team in the short term.

Grimaldo left Barça in 2016 to sign for Benfica in exchange for 2.1 million euros. In Portugal he added 22 goals and 66 assists in 303 appearances with the 'eagles' after seven seasons. In 2023 he left with a free letter to Leverkusen, where he quickly became one of the untouchables of the team that won the double (league and cup) a year ago.

Madrid seems to rule out, for now, the signing of Grimaldo

In that sense, the arrival of Xabi Alonso to the Madrid bench gives the whites a certain favoritism in the 'race' for Grimaldo. It is likely that the Tolosa coach wants to take one or two pieces from his Leverkusen to Chamartín and, for the moment, the left-back and Florian Wirtz are the players that sound the strongest on the white radar.

However, the possible arrival of Álvaro Carreras (Benfica) may close the door to the Valencian, understanding that one of the two left-backs in the Madrid squad (Fran García and Ferland Mendy) will stay at least one more year. By hierarchy, the most likely thing is that the Frenchman will stay, beyond the continuous physical problems he has suffered since his arrival in 2019.

Barça may have an advantage in the bid for Grimaldo, but the club does not see his signing clearly

Alejandro Grimaldo in a match with Bayer Leverkusen

In that sense, Barça may have a certain advantage to fully enter the bid for Grimaldo, a player highly valued by the board and the coaching staff. The idea, at the beginning of the year, was to incorporate another left-back with sufficient quality to compete hand-to-hand for the starting position with Alejandro Balde.

However, Gerard Martín earned merits to stay with his good performances in Liga and Champions during the final stretch of the season, when Balde was absent due to injury. Against Inter, in fact, he gave two assists in the return of 'semis'.

In any case, Barça will define whether or not it is worth bringing another player with the characteristics of the still Leverkusen defender in July, once the future of players such as Andreas Christensen, Eric García and Ronald Araujo himself is defined, the three with very interesting offers for the summer.