On November 23rd, Mundo Deportivo reported Tottenham Hotspur’s Giovani Lo Celso is the main midfield target for Barcelona in January.
Gavi suffered a serious injury and this resulted in reports indicating the La Liga side could look for a replacement next month. Xavi Hernández has been an admirer of Lo Celso and after failing to get him in the summer, he’s been pushed forward again as a target.
AS have a report on why Barca failed to sign the Tottenham player in the last window and also their stance on making a possible approach in the winter market.
It’s claimed the door had opened for the Catalan club to sign the 27-year-old in July but the deal was dead by the time Tottenham faced Barca in a friendly in August.
Xavi’s side and the Argentina international’s agent were in regular contact in the summer, but Spurs refused to sit down for negotiations.
That’s because Deco, along with former Barca sporting director Mateu Alemany, didn’t want to ‘pay a single euro’ to take him on loan and wanted Ange Postecoglou’s side to pay part of his salary. That obviously didn’t please Tottenham, who killed the deal.
Recent claims from England have stated Xavi is putting pressure on Deco to make another approach for Lo Celso. AS relay that and then add that Barcelona have ‘not yet made any move’ for the Tottenham midfielder.
Lo Celso has started to enjoy more minutes in recent weeks and AS say he could be ‘essential’ for Postecoglou, especially when Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr will be at AFCON.
Although AS claim Barca haven’t made any move for the South American, it’s not thought they’d stand a great chance of success even if they did… especially on similar terms to last time.
