According to Diario Sport, 22-year-old Barcelona left-back Martínez Valde has agreed to leave the club and has authorized his agent Jorge Mendes to find a new club.
At the end of last season and before the World Cup, Balde's future was the subject of various rumors. At the time, Barcelona's technical department confirmed he was available for sale, and several clubs indicated he was on the transfer market. However, Balde himself and his team consistently maintained that he had no intention of leaving Barcelona's first team. They stated at the time that Balde would remain with Barcelona for a long time.
Weeks later, as the transfer market entered its final stages, the situation returned to square one, but a crucial shift occurred regarding the player's ultimate fate. While Barcelona's sporting department maintained that Balde was not a priority in Flick's tactical system, this time, the player and his team's stance had changed. The 22-year-old Alex Balde had compromised. Barcelona's transfer strategy was clear, and their all-out effort to bring Cancelo back demonstrated Flick and Deco's transfer intentions and preferences.
The left-back transfer market is already lacking in big-money offers. Moreover, at this point in time, most leagues have already started their first round of matches, and more importantly, teams have very little of their transfer budget remaining.
Having an agent like Jorge Mendes has the advantage of always being able to offer viable departure options. The problem lies in Barcelona's asking price. Just a few months ago, when transfer rumors first surfaced, reports suggested that Balde's transfer fee could reach €40-45 million. Now, that figure is almost impossible to achieve, except, of course, in the Saudi league.
Barcelona have received at least one formal offer and one formal inquiry. The initial offer came from Benfica, the Portuguese club looking for two defenders: a center-back and a left-back. However, Benfica's offer is unlikely to exceed €20 million. In this situation, Barcelona will have to invoke some "creative clauses" to obtain additional financial incentives or agree to a profit-sharing arrangement for future transfers.
In the Premier League, Aston Villa are also looking for a top-class left-back. However, Villa currently lack a transfer budget and need to sell players to generate sufficient revenue before they can pursue a player like Balde.
As has been the case in recent years, any Barcelona player departure is invariably linked to potential interest from Manchester United. Of course, transfer rumors have also pointed to Manchester, but so far, Michael Carrick's team has made no concrete moves. It's expected that the list of teams vying for Balde will continue to grow in the coming hours. The defender has no shortage of suitors, but Barcelona hopes to complete a top-tier transfer, and at this point on August 22nd, the transfer market is unlikely to offer surprisingly high prices.
