It's clear that Barcelona need to free some space up in their squad. At the moment there are too many players and the club need to move on the likes of Douglas, Munir El Haddadi and Thomas Vermaelen.

In the case of Vermaelen, there is no shortage of interest, but so far there has been none good enough. There have been talks with English clubs, but the latest news is that he could return to his homeland, Belgium, where, curiously, he's never played as a professional.

The interested club is Anderlecht, according to the newspaper Dernier Heure. Said newspaper says thet Belgian side are in need of strengthening their backline after losing Bram Nuytinck to Udinese. They could also lose Kara Mbodji, who's interesting, among others, Sevilla.

For that reason, they're looking to sign at least one, if not two new centre-backs. Vermaelen and Laurent Ciman, who's currently playing MLS with Montreal, are two of the names on the table.

It's difficult to imagine Vermaelen, who's been hampered by injuries throughout his career, getting regular football at Camp Nou. Pique, Umtiti, Mascherano and maybe even Marlon are all ahead of him in the pecking order.