Barcelona rule out signing Willian Jose Barcelona La Real wanted too much

Barcelona have ruled out signing Real Sociedad striker Willian Jose as a replacement for the injured Ousmane Dembele.

The decision was taken on Wednesday by Barcelona due to the fee that La Real were demanding, which was between 30 and 35 million euros, as they were unable to reduce this figure.

The Basque side are currently focused on the Copa del Rey semi-finals as they will welcome Mirandes to the Reale Arena on Thursday night, so they do not want to lose any players as they look to lift the trophy whilst also keeping pace with those in LaLiga Santander in the race for Champions League football.

"I think he's going to stay with us, unless they come up with the 70 million [euro release clause]," head coach Imanol Alguacil said.

In view of the difficulties of bringing Willian Jose to the club, Barcelona will now focus on other targets.

Despite being able to enter into negotiations with clubs, a formal offer for a striker will only come when LaLiga and the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) give the go-ahead for the Blaugrana to sign a replacement for Dembele, given that he will be out for five months, which is the minimum time allowed to be able to sign a replacement.

For the time being, the medical report that Barcelona need to send to LaLiga has not been submitted, with the maximum time allowed being 20 days after the surgery.

It is clear that the official move for a striker will have to wait until next week because, once LaLiga's medical committee receive the report, it will take a few days to come to a decision. Six doctors make up this committee. One of them, Dr. Ardevol, will not vote because he works for Barcelona.

As such, the decision will be taken by the other five and anything could happen; if their appeal to sign a replacement was rejected, it would not be the first time that this has happened.

At Barcelona, they are confident of a positive verdict and are continuing to work on bringing in cover up top.

Now, the Catalan side will look at other options, although each of the players they are looking at varies in terms of their qualities and the price they would cost.

In some cases, it would be worth Barcelona paying their release clause, but in others they will have to enter into negotiations.