For this season, the picture is settled: Joan Garcia and Wojciech Szczesny will be the club's two senior goalkeepers, backed up by a third option from the reserve side. Barcelona's sporting department sold Iñaki Peña to Panathinaikos for €3m this summer and loaned out both Marc-André ter Stegen, to Ajax, and Aron Yaakobishvili, to Almeria, resolving the position for the current campaign.
That is not enough for sporting director Deco, though, who is already planning ahead for next summer, when the club will again be tight against spending limits.
For that reason, Barcelona are close to completing the signing of Fenerbahce's Dominik Livakovic, Croatia's starting goalkeeper at this summer's World Cup, with talks between the two clubs advanced but no agreement yet finalised.
The plan is to sign the goalkeeper during this window, with a fee in the region of €3-5m being negotiated with Fenerbahce, his current club. Barcelona want the deal wrapped up before the window closes on 1 September, though Livakovic would not initially join the first-team squad.
Instead, the idea is to find him a loan for this season, with Barcelona's real objective being to have the goalkeeper available for 2027/28. Szczesny's contract expires at the end of this season, and he is not expected to continue at the club beyond that point, opening the door for Livakovic to enter the first-team picture.
He would become the deputy to Joan Garcia, currently the undisputed first choice in goal.
What is clear is that, should the Livakovic signing be confirmed, Barcelona have no intention of bringing ter Stegen back into the first-team fold. The German remains on loan at Ajax for now.