On the front page of today’s edition of Sport, it’s stated Raphaël Guerreiro has emerged as a target for Barcelona and they’ve contacted Borussia Dortmund to ‘negotiate’ for the defender.
The La Liga winners’ earlier plan was to sign a left-back on a free transfer as a back-up for Jordi Alba and invest big in signing Matthijs de Ligt.
However, the Ajax captain’s chances of making a switch to the Camp Nou are in doubt as other clubs are ahead of Barca in the race to sign the 19-year-old Netherlands international.
De Ligt’s decision to not favour a move to Barcelona has resulted in a ‘change of plans’.
They now want to sign a left-back who will compete with the Spain international for a place in the starting lineup, rather than finding a back-up for Alba, which was initially planned.
The Spanish champions were interested in Guerreiro even before he moved to the Siganl Iduna Park in 2016.
With one year left on his Dortmund contract, the 25-year-old has already made it clear he will not be signing an extension.
It’s claimed the Portugal international has been in contact with the Catalan club for weeks and the fullback is already aware of his name being included in the list of possible left-back targets for Ernesto Valverde’s side.
Dortmund paid €7m to French club Lorient for Guerreiro in 2016 and are now demanding €25m for the player.
Barca believe the asking price is high and wants the German club to lower the price, with Guerreiro having a year left on his contract.
Negotiations have been progressing and the idea of the Camp Nou club is to pressure the player so that a decision can be made in the next few days.
For now, Sport explains everything point towards Guerreiro as the chosen one for Barcelona.
