After Barcelona’s 6-1 win over Alaves at Spotify Camp Nou, Fermín López kissed the Barça badge and pointed toward it. The 23-year-old then spelled out where he wants to be next, saying he wants to stay at Barcelona for as long as possible and even finish his career there.

Fermín’s stance on the move

"I don’t pay attention to this kind of news. I want to stay at Barcelona for as long as possible, and I hope to finish my career at this club," Fermín told barcauniversal.com. He gave a similar message to caughtoffside.com, saying: "Manchester United links? I don’t pay attention to that kind of news. I want to stay here at Barça as long as possible".

The clearest point here is that Manchester United are not getting encouragement from the player himself. A Barcelona source told teamtalk.com that nobody has spoken to the club about Fermín, calling him completely unattainable.

Why Barcelona are not moving him

Fermín’s form is a big part of why this story is not moving. He has 5 goals and 5 assists in the tracked season aggregate, and his 9.53 rating against Alaves came with 1 goal and 2 assists in the 6-1 win. Hansi Flick also told caughtoffside.com: "He can change games, and that’s what we need."

Barcelona have also extended him until 2031 and consider him untouchable. That fits the football as much as the talk. He has 5 goals in La Liga this season, and the club are top of La Liga, so there is little reason for them to open the door unless the situation changes sharply.

Manchester United’s need is obvious enough, but the fit looks difficult. They are 17th in the Premier League with 7 points from 9 matches and are on a winless run of nine matches, which explains why midfield reinforcements are being linked in the first place. Fermín is not behaving like a player waiting for that move, and Barcelona are not acting like a club prepared to make it easy.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 6 outlets. How we work →