Barcelona ready to stick with current midfield should Verratti deal fall through

Ernesto Valverde will reportedly not sign anyone else if Barcelona fail to get Verratti and will put his trust in his current crop of midfielders to do the job.

According to Spanish news outlet Don Balon, newly-appointed Barcelona manager, Ernesto Valverde does not have a "plan B" to PSG's Marco Verratti and will much rather stick with his own group of players rather than sign an alternative to the Italian. 

Many reports have surfaced talking about other players Barcelona could potentially buy as the deal for Verratti looks increasingly unlikely. The names being thrown in the hat included Manchester United's Ander Herrera, Guangzhou Evergrande's Paulinho, Nice's Jean Seri and Southampton's Oriol Romeu.

However, the report by Don Balon claims that Valverde is more than happy to stick with his current group of players and does not see any of the alternatives to Verratti being capable of making the team better.

Barcelona's current group of midfielders include Sergi Roberto, Rafinha, Denis Suárez, André Gomes, Ivan Rakitic and Andres Iniesta. Valverde is confident that this crop of players will get the midfield job done even if Verratti fails to come.  

Verratti was thought to be close to joining Barcelona after submitting a transfer request to try and force a move away from PSG. However, those reports by rubbished by Verratti himself as he issued out an apology to fans, saying: "I saw what my agent said and I just wanted to say that they are not my words at all. And I want to apologize to everyone at the club, the president, the fans and the players." 

He later seemingly confirmed that he will stay at the club saying he was "very happy" and "thrilled" to start pre-season training with PSG.