Barcelona finally set to offload players via transfers to AC Milan and Leeds

FC Barcelona is finally making some headway in their quest to offload some valuable players in order to free up some funds. The latest reports suggest that Philippe Coutinho will soon be making his way to AC Milan, and Junior Firpo will be heading to the Premier League to join Leeds United.

According to Marca, The Serie A side is seriously considering signing Coutinho after he was offered up for sale by the Catalan giants. The playmaker is one of the squad members of relatively good value that Barcelona are hoping to take off their wage bill for the incoming season. They are desperate to free up approximately 200 million euros from their expenses, and selling some of their first-team players has become a priority.

The 29-year-old is still at the peak of his career, but Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman is willing to let him go this summer. Several other European clubs are reportedly interested, but Italy's tax structure is believed to be playing a major factor in the player's decision.

Meanwhile, Junior Firpo is yet another player who is about to be offloaded by the cash-strapped club. Various reports have stated that Barcelona and Leeds United have already reached an agreement for the left-back's move to the UK. Leeds have reportedly agreed to a 15 million euro transfer fee, and only the medical examination stands in the way of the official announcement.

These two transfers will be good news for Barcelona fans who are waiting for the club to finally announce Lionel Messi's contract extension. Unfortunately, the matter has been put on hold as Barcelona scrambles to free up space in their list of expenditures in order to accommodate Messi and meet La Liga Santander's financial fair play regulations.

The Argentine is now shockingly a free agent, after the club failed to reach an agreement with him before the expiration of his previous contract last June 30. Club president Joan Laporta insists that Messi wants to stay, but he also admitted that the fair play situation has so far made it difficult to reach an agreement for the contract extension.