Barca to swoop for Mikel Merino if De Jong leaves

Barcelona are making moves in the market and one of the players on their radar is Real Sociedad's Mikel Merino. ‘Sport’ claims that the Catalan club have already been in talks with the player and have explained to him that his signing could only happen if Frenkie de Jong decides to leave the Camp Nou.
The Catalan giants are clear that Mikel Merino is not a priority. The main objective right now is to sign Nico Williams and Dani Olmo. There is no urgency for the club to sign a midfielder.
The Catalan newspaper claims that Barca have been sincere with Mikel Merino and have made it clear to him that his signing could only happen if De Jong leaves this summer. The Dutchman has a contract with the Catalan club until 2026 and, by the looks of it, he is not keen on leaving the Camp Nou.
Barcelona need to free up wage bill to be able to deal with new arrivals. In addition, the club understands that Mikel Merino would play a very similar position on the pitch to De Jong, so they would only try to get the ‘Txuri-urdin’ if their player decides to start a new journey away from Barcelona.