Barcelona rejoin pursuit for Real Valladolid right back Ivan Fresneda
All it took was 45 minutes of watching Sergino Dest struggle. According to a report by Gerard Romero, Barcelona has re-entered the race to sign the highly touted Ivan Fresneda from Real Valladolid.
Fresneda has been a point of contention within the Barca ranks, with it recently being reported that Xavi was in favour of signing the promising 18-year-old, but Xavi and Mateu Alemany preferred aiming for more experience in the form of Joao Cancelo.
But it seems as though there may be more of a consensus now when it comes to Fresneda.
Deco has already met with his agent to register Barca’s interest officially, but no formal offers have been made and no agreements have been signed between either player or club.
Borussia Dortmund, Newcastle United, AC Milan and Arsenal have all been linked to the young Spanish fullback but the rumours have died down in recent weeks. Arsenal signed Jurrien Timber from Ajax, so that would seemingly rule them out of contention and AC Milan is believed to be working on other targets.
Valladolid has just been relegated to the Segunda, which is the second division in Spain, and it’s likely that at some point this summer Fresneda will be on the move. The Spain youth international is far too talented to be playing in the second tier, and now Barcelona may intensify their interest.
Barca has already seen Nico Gonzalez leave for Porto in an €8 million deal today, with Chadi Riad following out the door, opening up both money and space within the roster.
Sergino Dest struggles in preseason debut
Xavi has highlighted the right-back position as an area of concern, with a focus on immediate reinforcements, and Barcelona’s 5-3 defeat to Arsenal proved his point.
I’m not sure it’s a coincidence that these rumours have crept up less than 12 hours after that game finished.
Dest looked to struggle throughout, with Everything Barca giving him 4/10 in our player ratings for the game.
You can’t judge the entire season off of one performance, but there is a reason Barca loaned him to AC Milan last year and there’s a reason he didn’t play a lot in Italy.
Fresneda is young, but he’s highly regarded as a potential star in Spain. Comfortable on the ball and with a feel for defensive positioning, I think this would be an excellent signing for Barca if they could pull it off.
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