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There’s now 22 sleeps left until Christmas, as many children, and big kids, will be telling themselves this Monday morning.

But, perhaps more excitingly, there’s also 29 sleeps left until the January transfer window opens, and after a shortened summer market, which was made even more complicated by the World Cup, several clubs will be looking to get business done.

One of those, according to the Catalan media, is Barcelona. The club are facing a defensive problem with Samuel Umtiti’s injury situation providing nobody with confidence.

Today’s edition of Sport says Barcelona have two options. They either sign an experienced defender on a short term deal, probably a loan, or a youngster for a value fee with the hope he can fill in the gap and potentially grow.

Ernesto Valverde would much prefer the ready made option.

Barcelona don’t want to spend big because they’d rather save funds for the summer.

Sport says the club now has a ‘list of players’ and started work on negotiations last week. It sounds like this is just a case of getting a body in without being too picky.

Many fans of the club would hope that the youth system would be turned to instead.