{"id":741804,"date":"2026-08-18T11:42:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T11:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/741804\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T11:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T11:42:10","slug":"benfica-and-nottingham-forest-emerge-as-potential-transfer-options-for-barcelona-outcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/741804\/","title":{"rendered":"Benfica and Nottingham Forest emerge as potential transfer options for Barcelona outcast"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barcelona had a simple solution on the table.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Marc Casado could have moved to Saudi Arabia, with interest from Al Hilal opening the door to a deal that may have brought in close to \u20ac40 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Barcelona, selling a La Masia graduate for that kind of money would have been a clean piece of business and a welcome boost as they continue to manage their finances and squad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Casado, though, had other ideas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As reported before, the Barcelona midfielder has made <a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/exit-bound-barcelona-midfielder-turns-down-saudi-arabia-option-as-he-eyes-top-level-challenge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">staying in Europe his priority<\/a>, despite the financial appeal of Saudi football.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a result, his representatives need to find a European club willing to meet the conditions of a permanent transfer, and with the market moving quickly, Jorge Mendes has been given plenty to do.<\/p>\n<p>Casado\u2019s decision has complicated Barcelona\u2019s plans<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Understandably, for Barcelona, the Saudi option made sense.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/birmingham-city-v-fc-barcelona-pre-season-friendly-4-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Marc Casado of FC Barcelona\" class=\"wp-image-208175\"  \/>Casado is not interested in Saudi Arabia move. (Photo by Alex Livesey\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The club is understood to be <a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/barcelona-and-al-hilal-remain-apart-on-valuation-for-e40-million-rated-la-masia-product\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">looking for more than \u20ac30 million<\/a>, while a sale would also represent a significant financial gain given Casado\u2019s journey through La Masia.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Al Hilal and Al Ahli offered the possibility of pushing the fee even higher, but a transfer cannot be decided by the selling club alone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Casado wants to choose the next step of his career carefully and, at this stage, does not see Saudi Arabia as the right move, leaving Barcelona waiting for the European market to provide an answer.<\/p>\n<p>Casado has two suitors<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, as per <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sport.es\/es\/noticias\/barca\/situacion-limite-mercado-marc-casado-133445909\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">SPORT<\/a>, Benfica are one of the clubs now being considered.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Portuguese side need midfield reinforcement, and Mendes is working on the possibility of taking Casado to Lisbon.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He was not their first choice, but circumstances could yet make him a more attractive option.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Furthermore, Nottingham Forest have also remained in the picture.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/birmingham-city-v-fc-barcelona-pre-season-friendly-5-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Marc Casado of FC Barcelona\" class=\"wp-image-208174\"  \/>Casado currently has two suitors. (Photo by Alex Livesey\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Premier League club spoke with Barcelona earlier in the summer, although the figures discussed at the time failed to satisfy the Catalan side.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With Casado\u2019s future still unresolved, there is room for those conversations to begin again.<\/p>\n<p>Jorge Mendes faces the task of finding right fit<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The situation is delicate because everyone involved wants something slightly different.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barcelona want a permanent sale and a fee that reflects Casado\u2019s value. The midfielder wants a competitive European project where he can continue playing at a high level.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Notably, AC Milan were another avenue explored by the agent, but the Italian side is not interested in pursuing a deal at this point in the window.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That leaves Benfica and Nottingham Forest as the most concrete possibilities for now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barcelona had a simple solution on the table. Marc Casado could have moved to Saudi Arabia, with interest&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":741805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[639,164993,2901,218,350,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-741804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-barcelona","tag-barcelona-news","tag-fc-barcelona","tag-football","tag-marc-casado","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/741805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}