Manchester United are ready to address two major issues in Michael Carrick’s squad in the January transfer window and are setting up a swap deal with Barcelona to do so.

United’s troubles continued at the weekend, with a 2-0 Premier League loss to Chelsea leaving Michael Carrick’s side on seven points and only outside the relegation zone on goal difference.

The loss at Stamford Bridge was marked by a red card for Lisandro Martinez, whose poor form and open criticism of the board has left his position at the club under threat, while it also served to underline United’s weakness in the full-back areas.

Moves are being made on the part of the Old Trafford club to solve both problems.

Balde to Man Utd, Martinez to Barca

Man Utd are seeking to sign out-of-favour Barcelona full-back Alejandro Balde as a solution to provide more competition and depth at left-back, where Luke Shaw is injured, forcing Diogo Dalot into a role he is less comfortable in.

Balde has featured only four times this season for the Catalans this season, including in each of the last three games, though this has only been due to an injury to Xavi Espart. He has fallen to third choice at Camp Nou in his role, with Joao Cancelo also preferred to him on a frequent basis.

Carrick’s side were linked with a move for the 23-year-old Spain international in the summer, and Record confirms that he is “on his way out” of Barcelona this January.

Barca are open to selling Balde because it will allow them to make moves elsewhere in the market. The club is still under pressure financially as Ferran Olive, the financial vice-president recently explained.

“We have to sell in order to sign players. The '1:1' rule means that for one player to come in, another needs to leave. There is a surplus, but it's very small, around €3 to 4 million,” he said.

The Catalans are targeting a centre-back, and the player recently earmarked as a likely January arrival is none other than Man Utd’s Martinez.

With the Argentine’s form and outspoken nature giving the Premier League side a double headache, the likelihood is that he will be allowed to leave, and The Sun reports that any deal for Balde would increase the likelihood of Martinez heading to Camp Nou.

The mechanisms of a deal: Why a swap isn’t really a swap

Although this is being advertised as a swap deal, in reality, if these transfers were to go ahead, it would be under the banner of two separate transactions.

The reason for this is that it is more attractive from an accounting perspective for both clubs as it would allow them to bank the full value of each player immediately while spreading out the cost of the new arrival over the course of multiple years.

While deals like this are generally hard to strike because the agreement of so many different parties is required, this move appears more possible because it suits both clubs as well as both players.