For the past few weeks, the Catalan media have stressed Ferran Torres is the main target for Barcelona and the two parties have an ‘agreement in principle’ for a transfer.
The La Liga side must agree a deal with Manchester City for the forward to arrive at the Camp Nou in the winter market.
On December 9th, Sport reported the Citizens are demanding €60m, while the Blaugrana were ready to pay only €45m for the Spain international. There seems to be a development on this front, if the latest reports are to be believed.
Friday’s edition of Mundo Deportivo states Xavi Hernández’s side and the former Valencia star are ‘convinced to connect their paths’ in January. For now, it’s ‘only a matter of time, but above all money’.
It’s said two clubs are ‘talking slowly, without pause’, while the player ‘continues pressing’ to arrive at the Camp Nou.
The earlier difference in valuation between Pep Guardiola’s side and Barca was €15m. As per journalist Gerard Romero, relayed by Mundo, that difference is now ‘only €4-5m’. There’s no mention if City have lowered their price or the Spanish giants are ready to pay more.
Sergio Agüero announced his retirement on Wednesday, and this event was attended by Guardiola and Txiki Begiristain. The Blaugrana didn’t discuss the Torres operation with the two City men earlier this week.
Over at Sport, it’s said Torres is an ‘absolute priority’ target for Barca in January and there has been ‘total agreement’ between the two parties for a few weeks.
Xavi’s side are working on the formula to pay the nearly €50m demanded by City. The English champions are ‘inflexible’ when it comes to price tag, but are open to exploring ‘different payment methods, both in time and terms’.
Barca need to reduce their wage bill to sign Torres and this is the ‘main obstacle’. To do this, there are ‘two key conditions’; either allow Coutinho to leave in January or convince Ousmane Dembélé to renew his contract.
The Frenchman’s renewal will not only lower the salary budget, but will also give the Spanish club more time to pay the part of the transfer fee that is to be amortised.
