Who can grumble at 12m for a top LaLiga grown prospect though? Not our typical profile and that is precisely why I like him.
Sell Todibo with a buyback and then buy Salisu for half the price to, at best compete with Lenglet and at worst, be a better option than Roland Araujo.
On the otherhand reports are that Atletico want him for less than his buyout clause and exchange will loan him to Valladolid for a season. An option we could also look at.
Agreed.
I don't see Salisu as a future starter at Barca (I think he could become a great player for AM under Simeone though) but could be a very good rotational player. And we need more depth in defense as much as we need more quality. People forget that we'll need not just one but two or maybe even three CBs over the next 2-3 years. We currently only have three first-team CBs so we need another one. Umtiti also can't be relied on to stay healthy so we should move on from him (which won't be easy) and Pique could retire by 2022.
So assuming Todibo will stay and show enough to stay longterm (though it seems we'll prefer to make money with him) we would still need one or two more CBs. Lenglet is probably the most likely one to still be here in 2022 and while he's far from great and shouldn't be unquestionable starter he's very durable (never injured) and serviceable as a rotational CB (and even as a starter I believe he'd look much better alongside a faster, more athletic CB than when paired with a slow and declining Pique). And since we can't afford to pay 50m+ for all of them we'll need to make some gambles with cheaper ones (and well, by now we should be aware that paying more for a player doesn't always mean you'll get a better player; in fact it usually worked the opposite for us) whether that's Salisu or someone like Malang Sarr on a free contract. Tanguy Kouassi could be an option too but IIRC @Newcomer has mentioned a few months ago he has already signed a pre-contract with RBL.
I've suggested a few months ago we should sign two CBs this summer. One like Upamecano who can start right away and another cheaper one like Salisu to send him (or Todibo depending on how each of them would develop) on loan. But now with the club losing 100m due to corona and with our obsession with 100m+ forwards we most likely won't spend 60m on Upamecano (though I'd prefer him over Lautaro). It wouldn't surprise me much if we'd go into the next season with the same CBs we have now. Instead of getting rid of an injury prone Umtiti on high wages we'll probably sell Todibo (I don't really believe he's a future star as some people think but we still shouldn't give up on him so soon; if he's sold at least include a buy-back option) to get money we need and promote Araujo for a 4th CB (he should get a Spanish passport this year).
Still, getting a player like Salisu makes sense longterm even if he won't be here next season. I've been saying for years we should've used low release clauses in smaller La Liga clubs and sign some of the younger talented players (and possibly loan them back to their former clubs to further develop if we wouldn't have immediate spot for them) but we never did that. We've missed out on Fabian and Ceballos for a combined 30m. Would they've made it here? We don't know but couldn't be worse than what we did. We've started to use "future transfers" more over the last two years by signing FDJ (probably shouldn't include him here but he was bought in January for the next season), Emerson, Pedri and Trincao so I see this as a somewhat positive change in our transfer philosophy. We should still change/improve a lot of things, one of them learn something from the past mistakes by not repeating them. Doesn't look like this will change anytime soon though.
I think Salisu has potential to develop into a very good CB but at the same time I understand people who have concerns about his fit here. He's playing for a team which usually sits deep so how he would do playing with a high backline? I think he's faster and more athletic than Pique and Lenglet (which is not really hard tbh) but could still struggle to adapt. He's also not really used to building from the back so how would he adapt in that aspect? I think he's actually a solid passer but high % of completed passes is just not something Valladolid puts a lot of importance to so he didn't fully develop his passing skills there. That doesn't mean he wouldn't improve that part of his game if it would be required of him in another team though. And that's why if we'd buy him maybe loaning to a team like Sociedad or Betis whose playing style is more similar to ours would make more sense than going back to Valladolid.
So all things considered while I don't believe we'll seriously regret missing out on Salisu in a few years like it could easily happen with Upamecano and Camavinga I think he's still a very good market opportunity at the position of both present and longterm need and easily worth a risk for just 12m. Best case: he becomes a solid player for a few seasons and if/when we find someone better we can sell him. Worst case: if he fails we can sell him to EPL like we did with Mina as I'm sure many clubs would still be intrigued by his longterm potential.
