On a day when the Spotify Camp Nou was busy applauding Rodri and watching Raphinha lead the side out as captain, a much quieter story was moving in the background — and it is one that could shape Barça’s goalkeeping department for the next three seasons. Dominik Livakovic, the 31-year-old Croatia international, has been linked with a move to the Blaugrana by three separate outlets in the space of a few hours. The problem for Culers trying to follow it is that the three accounts do not agree with each other.
Here is what this piece covers:
- What each of the three reports actually claims — and where they contradict one another
- Why Barça are looking for a goalkeeper at all, given Joan García’s status
- The proposed structure of the deal, including the loan clause that makes it unusual
- The reasons to be sceptical, straight from Mundo Deportivo
- What realistically happens between now and the 31 August deadline
Background: why Barça are shopping for a goalkeeper
To understand the interest, you have to look at how thoroughly the goalkeeping room was rebuilt this summer. Marc-Andre ter Stegen departed on loan to Ajax at the start of August, ending an era and freeing up the No. 1 shirt. Joan García inherited it and is unambiguously Flick’s first choice. Wojciech Szczesny, who took the 13, is the experienced back-up — and, crucially, his contract expires at the end of this season. Iñaki Peña left for Panathinaikos and Diego Kochen is on loan at Lyngby Boldklub.
That leaves Barça in a familiar position: solid for the next nine months, exposed the moment Szczesny’s deal runs out. A club that has just spent heavily on Rodri, Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi is not going to want to enter next summer scrambling for an experienced deputy at whatever price the market sets. Planning ahead is cheap. Panic-buying is not. That, in essence, is the logic behind every version of the Livakovic story.
Livakovic to Barcelona: three reports, three versions
Version one — Fabrizio Romano, via Sports Mole
Sports Mole, citing Fabrizio Romano, frame this as a long-term plan rather than an imminent transfer. Barça are said to be interested in negotiating a deal for Livakovic this summer and then loaning him out for 2026-27, with the idea of installing him as García’s deputy from 2027-28 once Szczesny is out of contract. The keeper has two years left at Fenerbahçe and is not regarded as first choice there, which opens the door to an exit before the window shuts. Sports Mole note his stance on the plan is not clear, and add that the club also have hopes for 20-year-old Aron Yaakobishvili, who has already made his senior Hungary debut.
Version two — Yağız Sabuncuoğlu, via Barça Universal
This is the most advanced telling. Barça Universal, citing Turkish journalist Yağız Sabuncuoğlu, report that Barça have already reached an agreement over personal terms with Livakovic and that club-to-club talks with Fenerbahçe are underway. They put the likely fee at around €3 million plus performance-related variables, and credit the speed of it partly to agent Andy Bara, who represents the keeper and has a strong working relationship with the Catalan club. The plan, per that account, is the same one Romano describes — sign, then loan, possibly back to Dinamo Zagreb, where he spent the second half of last season. Barça Universal also report the club looked at Real Sociedad’s Alex Remiro earlier in the summer without anything coming of it, and say a scenario in which Livakovic simply stays in Flick’s squad this season has not been entirely ruled out.
Version three — Mundo Deportivo, and the cold water
Then there is Mundo Deportivo, whose headline is not “Barça agree deal” but “Livakovic offered to Barça”. Their reporting acknowledges the Croatian outlet Index HR claiming an agreement with Fenerbahçe worth €3m plus add-ons, with the loan-to-Dinamo structure attached. But MD’s own line is blunt: the offer has drawn no response from the Catalan club, and as things stand today there is no deal to speak of. That is a significant distinction. “Offered” and “agreed” are not the same word, and in a summer this noisy the difference is worth holding on to.
The case for — and the reasons to be sceptical
Taken at face value, the sporting logic is strong. Livakovic has 79 caps, a reputation as an outstanding penalty stopper, and a tournament CV few back-ups can match: an unused member of Croatia’s runners-up squad at Russia 2018, seven matches at Qatar 2022, and all four of Croatia’s games at the most recent World Cup before they went out to Portugal in the last 32. He also played at Euro 2020 and Euro 2024. Mundo Deportivo trace his path from NK Zagreb to Dinamo Zagreb and on to Fenerbahçe in 2023. At around €3m, he would be one of the cheapest pieces of squad planning Barça do all year.
The problems are just as visible. His recent club record is thin — Sports Mole count only 19 appearances across Fenerbahçe and Dinamo Zagreb in 2025-26, and MD note his loan spell at Girona in the first half of last season produced no minutes at all before he returned to Istanbul. At Fenerbahçe he is now behind former Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson, as Tuesday’s 1-1 home draw with Lyon in the Champions League play-off round underlined. A 31-year-old who has barely played in a year is a gamble, even a cheap one.
There is also the small matter of whether Barça’s decision-makers are engaged at all. MD say they are not — that the approach came from the player’s side and has been met with silence. With Deco still trying to find a centre-forward after the Julian Álvarez pursuit collapsed, and with exits for the likes of Marc Casadó and Héctor Fort still unresolved, a 2027 back-up goalkeeper is not obviously top of anyone’s list this fortnight.
What happens next
The window closes on 31 August, which gives this a hard edge. If Barça want the structure the reports describe — buy now, loan immediately, integrate in 2027 — they need Fenerbahçe to agree a fee and a loan club to be lined up inside twelve days. That is doable at €3m; it is not doable if the club’s attention is elsewhere, which is precisely what MD are suggesting.
The likeliest outcomes, in rough order: nothing happens this summer and Barça revisit the goalkeeping question in January or next June, when Alex Remiro and others become available on free transfers; or the deal is done quietly in the final days because it is small enough not to disrupt anything else. A scenario where Livakovic arrives and stays in Flick’s squad for 2026-27 feels the least likely of the three — Barça already have two senior keepers, and adding a third who wants games solves nobody’s problem.
The bottom line
Treat this one as a plan rather than a transfer. Every outlet agrees on the same underlying idea — Barça need a successor to Szczesny and Livakovic is cheap, experienced and available. They disagree sharply on how far it has travelled, and Mundo Deportivo, the outlet closest to the club, are the most cautious of the three. Until the Blaugrana respond to the offer, this is a name on a list rather than a signing. Keep an eye on the last week of the window — and follow our full coverage of the Barcelona goalkeeping situation for how the department got here.
