Barcelona 'plan' to sell out-of-favour trio Arda Turan, Thomas Vermaelen and Paco Alcacer

Arda Turan, Thomas Vermaelen and Paco Alcacer are expected to be shown the Barcelona exit door after having been overlooked by new manager Ernesto Valverde during the opening part of the season.

Sport claims that finding a new club for Turan exit is the main priority amid renewed reports linking the Turkish international with a January move to Arsenal.

Valverde already made a huge clear-out in the summer to part ways with seven first-team players in the form of Munir, Douglas, Marlon Santos, Sergi Samper, Cristian Tello, Jeremy Mathieu and goalkeeper Jordi Masip.

Furthermore, Barcelona also lost Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain with the Brazilian paying his €222m (£198m, $260m) release clause.

However, Barcelona President Josep Martia Bartomeu recently admitted that the club would have liked to cash in-on with more players who had been deemed surplus requirement by Valverde.

Bartomeu identified the unsuccessful clear-out as one of the two mistakes made by Barcelona during an in-depth interview held with Sport and Mundo Deportivo to review their summer business.

"The first self-criticism was our belief in what the Neymars [his family] told us. We were wrong [about him wanting to stay]. When we found out, we reacted and made enquiries about Dembélé. We managed to sign him, but for a high price. Neymar's exit was a setback for our strategy," Bartomeu said.

"The second self-criticism has been our plan for outgoing players. We didn't get what we wanted and didn't meet our expectations. We had planned for certain players to leave who ended up staying."

Sport says that Bartomeu has thus asked new chief of the sporting department, Pep Segura, to fix that mistake and find a new club for Turan, Vermaelen and Alcacer.

Turan

The Turkish international was already expected to leave the club during the summer transfer window after failing out of favour with Luis Enrique in the second part of last season.

Galatarasay, Arsenal, Inter Milan and some Chinese clubs were linked with his services but he eventually stayed at Barcelona after turning down a loan deal to the Turkish side on deadline day.

Turan has since failed to register a single minute of playing time under Valverde, having even been left out of the squad in the last eight games.

His exit is a priority and Sport points out that the Turkish media are claiming that Arsenal could take advantage of the situation to lure him to the Premier League in a cut-price deal during the upcoming January transfer window.

The Catalans paid around €40m to sign him from Atletico Madrid in 2015 but Barcelona concede that they are unlikely to recoup such a fee.

Vermaelen

The Belgium international returned to the Nou Camp in the summer following a disappointing loan spell at AS Roma.

He was expected to be sold then but eventually stayed to serve as Barcelona's fourth-choice centre-back after the club decided against signing a replacement for Mathieu.

However, Vermaelen is yet to play a single minute this season and last week suggested that he could consider leaving in January in order to increase his chances of making the World Cup.

"The national team boss [Roberto Martinez] says that the lack of playing time is not a problem at the moment but that he would take it into account from March onwards, when we will be close to the tournament. Who can predict if I will be still not playing at that time? Or if I haven't left the club during January transfer window?" Vermalaen said from the Belgium camp ahead of a World Cup qualifier against Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Alcacer

The former Spanish international joined Barcelona in the summer of 2016 in a deal worth around €30m in order to serve as a back-up for the "MSN" trident of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar.

However, he failed to make the impact expected during his debut season at the Nou Camp and has also fallen out of favour for Valverde, having failed to feature since the 2-0 victory over Alaves on 26 August.

His situation is unlikely to improve in the second part of the season with Ousmane Dembele expecting to be back from a long-term injury.