Leeds United are interested in Barcelona forward Martin Braithwaite and have asked about his situation at the Camp Nou.
That’s according to Sport, who cover the player’s future today and Barça’s attempts to move him on from the club.
The newspaper explains that the forward is not a part of Ronald Koeman’s plans and as such, amid an effort from the club to reduce the budget, he is on the list of sellable assets.
They tried to sell Braithwaite in the summer and held negotiations with West Ham over him, but a deal could not be secured as Barcelona were attempting to recover the €18m they paid for him in the winter window.
It is claimed that they have ‘shown interest’ in Braithwaite and ‘have asked about his situation’, although there have been no firm offers as yet.
Barcelona believe they can secure a sale, but they need to convince Braithwaite to go, with him showing ‘no interest’ in a move because he is enjoying a ‘great opportunity’ and believes he is growing more at the Camp Nou than he would elsewhere.
His ‘environment’ are more open to negotiating a departure as they knew he was an emergency signing and want to keep their word and ‘collaborate’ with Barça’s wishes.
The Spanish giants now only want €15m, which is considered an ‘affordable’ figure for all three of the Premier League clubs.
Whether Leeds would genuinely be interested is debatable, though. They already spent big to sign Rodrigo and Raphinha in the summer to bolster their forward line.
Given they joined a squad that already contained Jack Harrison, Helder Costa and Ian Poveda as well as Patrick Bamford, it’s hard to see them thinking more forwards are necessary.
Similarly, Marcelo Bielsa’s side haven’t had a problem scoring goals so far this season, with keeping them out by far the more significant issue.
If they were to spend more money in January, it would surely be on improving their defence, not spending €15m on Braithwaite and adding to an already crowded forward line.
