Barcelona the top destination for attacking duo
In looking for possible reinforcements for next season, Barcelona are going to be heavily scouting players whose contracts are expiring and thus could arrive on a free transfer.
They’ve already been linked to two players who meet that criteria in Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero and Lyon’s Memphis Depay.
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Both players are more than keen to come to Barcelona.
According to Mundo Deportivo, both players are “desperate” to sign for the Catalan giants and have turned down other offers in the process.
Both have a reasonable chance of ending up at Camp Nou.
Barcelona has long been in search of a striker. While Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland is the one the club wants, they are not in a good financial shape to pay what Dortmund would demand.
Aguero is a decent backup plan until they can go after Haaland and the Argentinian is said to be willing to take a pay cut.
An added bonus, which is not lost on the club, is that his signing could go a decent way into convincing Lionel Messi to stay. The friendship between the two is well documented. The sporting aspect, however, should be at the forefront and despite being 32, Aguero believes he has enough left in the tank to play at the top level in Europe.
Depay, on the other hand, has the advantage of being a signing that Ronald Koeman has wanted since he took over as manager.
Lyon would have sold Depay last summer but Barcelona couldn’t afford him. They had another opportunity during the winter transfer window but the situation remains unchanged.
The Dutchman has had interest from Juventus but he only has Barcelona on his mind.
Depay’s signing could have been seen as the least likely of the two until it was confirmed Ansu Fati was set to undergo another surgery.
The uncertainty surrounding Fati and how his knee will respond to the surgery may mean Depay becomes a good player to have considering it is also unknown how long it will take Fati to be match fit once he does return.
Next. Barcelona’s Ansu Fati set to undergo more surgery. dark
The future of Depay and Aguero should be resolved fairly soon as the seasons for the top leagues in Europe only have a handful of weeks left. On paper, they would be sensible deals for Barcelona. But they may have to offload players first before making a signing, let alone two.