Barcelona plan for life without wantaway Aleix Vidal ahead of January transfer window

Barcelona outcast Aleix Vidal has already informed his teammates about his intentions to leave the Nou Camp during the January transfer window, according to Mundo Deportivo. The Catalans were previously linked with Arsenal right-back Hector Bellerin but now the Spanish publication claims that Valencia's Joao Cancelo, Juventus's Stephan Lichtsteiner and Shakhtar Donetsk's Darijo Srna top the shopping list of candidates to replace him.

Vidal moved to the Nou Camp in the summer of 2015 for around €18m (£16m, $20m) as the intended long-term replacement for Dani Alves. However, the Spaniard spent the first part of last season out of action because of a Fifa registration ban, then struggled to make any impact during the second part of the campaign.

The situation worsened during the opening part of the current campaign despite the departure of Alves to Juventus leaving a big gap in the right-back. Vidal has been left out of the Barcelona squad in the last six games and is yet to play since the 2-1 defeat against Alaves on 10 September, where he was at fault for the Basque side's second goal.

Mundo Deportivo claims that the former Spanish international has made the decision to leave during the January transfer window in order to secure more playing time somewhere else. Barcelona are aware of the situation and have already started to plan for the life without him.

Hector Bellerin had been tipped as the main candidate to fill the gap in the long-term. However, Arsenal fans can be relieved for now as Mundo Deportivo suggests that Cancelo and two veterans like Lichtsteiner and Srna are the three main candidates ahead of the January transfer window.

Nevertheless, Luis Enrique recently claimed that there is not any better right-back for Barcelona than Sergi Roberto, suggesting that he would need only a back-up for the Spaniard rather than a first-choice like the Arsenal right-back.

Furthermore, Barcelona are not likely to splash the cash in the coming transfer after they already spent more than €120m during the summer to sign Paco Alcacer, Samuel Umtiti, Andre Gomes, Jasper Cillessen, Denis Suarez and Lucas Digne.

In this sense, 34-year-old Srna and 32-year-old Lichtsteiner could be bought on the cheap while recent reports suggested that Valencia could consider a swap deal between Vidal and Cancelo which would mean good business for every party. Barcelona, nevertheless, are not likely to part with Vidal on the cheap and would demand at least €12.6m to recoup a part of the €18m they paid for him only a year ago.

Yet, Mundo Deportivo also points out that there are still three months to the January transfer window and Barcelona still hope Vidal could turnaround the situation with Enrique to stay.