Catalan newspaper Sport again have Hector Bellerin on their front page on Tuesday, and they’ve really got their teeth into this one.
Sport start their Tuesday article by saying ‘Arsenal are a club accustomed to selling’, setting out their stall immediately.
Whilst it’s stated Arsenal weren’t very accustomed to selling when Bellerin approaches were made over the summer, including from Manchester City, Sport say it’ll be different next year and the club ‘will have to negotiate’ if Bellerin hasn’t signed a new contract.
The right back’s current deal ends in June 2019, and Sport claim that Barcelona have learned he’s set to discuss a renewal in October. Therefore, Barcelona want to rush in and see if he’d rather move to them, then not renew and make a transfer easier.
Learning that Bellerin was set for talks has panicked Barcelona into action, according to the Catalan newspaper, knowing that if he does renew then a deal would be much harder to negotiate.
Barcelona believe that if Bellerin doesn’t renew then ‘a price of €35m is reasonable’ and fits in with Barcelona’s financial plan going forward.
Barcelona vice president Jordi Mestre has told Sport: “We have already seen he’s a culé! He is a great player, no doubt… Wenger convinced him and promised something we could not. We could not promise that in two years he would play in the place of Dani Alves.”
Sport have even started referring to the player simply as ‘Hector’ occasionally.
This could go full Barca DNA.
