Barcelona had late loan request for Ousmane Dembele alternative turned down

Barcelona did indeed try to bring in a late reinforcement in order to compensate for the absence of Ousmane Dembele.

Despite maintaining they would not be active in the January transfer market for much of December and January, it has become clear that they attempted two moves in the closing hours of the winter window. One was the addition of Sofyan Amrabat on loan from Fiorentina, which was swiftly turned down, while the other was the signing of Julian Araujo for Barcelona Atletic from LA Galaxy. However the paperwork for the deal was submitted 18 seconds late and thus they did not manage to get the 21-year-old right-back in the door.

Sport say that they also had a late loan offer for Yannick Carrasco turned down. After Memphis Depay moved to Atletico Madrid for €3m, rising to €4m, Barcelona secured a €20m buy option on the Belgian winger, which has been admitted by Barcelona. The player’s agent, Pini Zahavi, has also admitted his client’s interest in a deal.

Following Dembele’s injury, set to keep him out for much of February, Barcelona rapidly contacted Atletico Madrid to see if they could loan Carraso for the rest of the season.

However Atletico were not keen to do a deal, and should the Blaugrana want him, they will have to pay that clause in the summer. He nearly proved his value at the weekend, breaking out a mazy run and shot that nearly brought Atleti a late winner against Getafe.