[Valeron11]

Barcelona's plans to move on dead wood from their squad have picked up pace as Arturo Vidal has joined Inter while Nelson Semedo has signed for Wolverhampton Wanderers. The latter's move comes in part due to the influence of Jorge Mendes, as two weeks ago he met with Josep Maria Bartomeu in Barcelona in a meeting revealed by MARCA. Now, Semedo has left the club for a fee worth a potential 40 million euros - 30m euros up front and 10m euros in variables. This is potentially larger than the figure of 30m euros plus 5m euros in add-ons that Barcelona paid Benfica for the right-back in 2017. "Barcelona would like to publicly express their gratitude to Nélson Semedo for his commitment and dedication and wishes him all the best for the future," the club said in a statement. Semedo never established himself as undisputed first choice, lacking consistency in his 124 games for Barcelona, scoring just two goals, but he did win two LaLiga Santander titles, one Copa del Rey and two Supercopas de Espana.
Barcelona's financial struggles obliged the club to put him up for sale, despite Bartomeu having been named him as one of the non-transferrable players after the humiliating defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
This sale represents the second most profitable transfer for the Catalan club this summer, after the 72m euros paid by Juventus for Arthur Melo, although that deal was linked with the arrival of Miralem Pjanic.
It remains to be seen if this deal will facilitate a move for Lautaro Martinez, or whether the funds will instead go towards paying wages as the club's income have been hit hard by the pandemic.