Barcelona have made Real Sociedad’s Willian José their number one target to replace Luis Suárez and are already in discussions about a move.
Suárez is set to miss four months after undergoing surgery on a knee injury, and Barça have been on the hunt for a replacement.
They failed to sign one during the transfer window last month, but a recent injury to Ousmane Dembélé may have presented them with the opportunity to sign a player outside of the window.
Spanish law allows clubs to sign an ‘emergency’ player, with permission from their FA, if any of their players are injured for more than five months.
However that player has to be playing in Spain, or a free agent, leaving Barcelona looking inside Spain for their preferred signing.
They have now settled on José, according to AS, with the Brazilian now considered the ‘priority objective’ according to the newspaper.
The Spanish giants have reportedly asked La Real about the striker’s situation and what sort of price they would be looking at to sanction a deal.
Sociedad are open to a deal, having accepted that José will be leaving the club this summer anyway following the transfer saga involving Tottenham in January.
They are willing to negotiate with Barcelona now, although that would be against the ‘express request’ of manager Imanol Alguacil.
José, for his part, will not push for the move to Barcelona like he did when Tottenham were pursuing him last month, instead focusing on training with his club and keeping an eye on the situation.
According to AS, ‘he knows well that if Barça wants him, it is because he is a request of Quique Setien’, who has tried to sign him in the past.
So far there has been no official bid from Barcelona, although the newspaper believes that the possibility of one arriving cannot be ruled out just yet.
