Barcelona-Juventus swap deal involving starlet ruled out but Camp Nou exit still expected

A possible swap deal between Barcelona and Juventus involving youngster Xavier Mbuyamba is reportedly not going to happen but he’s still set to leave at the end of the season.

Mbuyamba, 18, joined the Catalan giants from Maastricht last summer and has gone on to make just three appearances at youth level in the UEFA Youth League this season.

With a lack of depth and long-term solutions in defence given Gerard Pique turns 34 next year while Samuel Umtiti continues to struggle with injury problems, the reigning La Liga champions would arguably be sensible to try and bring through youth options to push Clement Lenglet and compete alongside Ronald Araujo.

However, it doesn’t appear as though Mbuyamba will be involved in that push, as Mundo Deportivo report that although a swap deal with Juventus for fellow young talent Kaly Sene has been mooted, it’s not a deal that is expected to materialise.

Further, with Mbuyamba’s contract set to expire this summer, he is being tipped to leave on a free transfer instead as it remains to be seen where he ends up with Real Madrid and a return to the Netherlands being specifically touted as possible options available to him.

While his future remains up in the air in that regard, what seems likely at this stage is that he will move on from Barcelona in search of a more prominent role this summer, and Juventus are likely to be left disappointed if they harbour hopes of trying to strike a deal to take him to Turin with Sene moving in the opposite direction.

The Bianconeri face a similar problem in that stalwarts such as Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci aren’t getting any younger, although that said, they still have Matthijs de Ligt, Merih Demiral and Daniele Rugani at Maurizio Sarri’s disposal, and so adding another centre-half arguably doesn’t seem like an immediate need for them anyway.

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