Barcelona will leave Andre Gomes out of their pre-season squad, according to reports in Spain. The midfielder is a transfer target of Arsenal and Juventus this summer and seems set for an exit in the coming weeks. Gomes has failed to impress in two seasons at the Nou Camp and Barcelona are ready to offload the 24-year-old.
Spanish outlet Sport claim Barcelona did want £18million for Gomes, but are now prepared to accept £16m. Gomes will be omitted from the team set to fly out to North America this week. Arsenal and Juventus will be encouraged to submit a bid for Gomes, but know only a permanent transfer interests Barcelona.
Barcelona also want a percentage of any future transfer fee, in case Gomes reaches his potential elsewhere and is sold on at a profit. Arsenal still may feel £16m is steep for a player who made just six starts in La Liga last season. The Gunners have already emptied their transfer kitty with the additions of Lucas Torreira, Bernd Leno, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Matteo Guendouzi and Stephan Lichtsteiner.
Unai Emery will need to sell if he wants to continue bringing in new faces, but will be pleased with what he has seen so far from his players. Arsenal smashed eight goals past Boreham Wood in their first pre-season outing, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scoring a hat-trick in the space of 16 minutes.