Liverpool and Manchester City are eyeing €100m moves for Barcelona midfielder Pedri, with his contract set to expire next summer.
That’s according to OK Diario and their director Eduardo Inda, who says the Reds are particularly keen on the Spanish star of the future.
Inda recently appeared on El Chiringuito, where he is quoted as saying, “Liverpool and City want the most spectacular promise of Spain and European football: Pedri. His contract expires at the end of June, although Barcelona have an automatic renewal clause.”
The website then goes into further detail, explaining that Pedri’s rise to being a key player for Barcelona and Spain has coaches around Europe keeping a very close eye on him.
One of those is Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp, who has made an ‘express request’ to the Reds management for the player.
He is said to be ‘in love’ with the midfielder and his ‘style, pace and vision’, believing that the youngster is a ‘perfect fit’ for the way he wants Liverpool to play moving forwards.
Manchester City, meanwhile, are also ‘keeping a close eye’ on the 18-year-old and Pedri is the type of player that Pep Guardiola has always liked to work with.
He is also similarly keen on working with Spanish players and wants to take advantage of Barcelona’s financial situation to convince Pedri to swap Catalunya for Manchester.
Pedri is a key player at the Camp Nou, though, and already has a release clause worth €400m to prove that. No club is ever going to pay that, and Barcelona intend to work hard to ensure he belongs to them for years to come.
They are counting on Pedri’s ‘attachment’ to the club to work in their favour, although it is clear Liverpool and presumably Manchester City as well, could easily offer more than what they can pay him.
Fortunately for Barcelona, they have an option to extend Pedri’s contract until 2024, an option they will take up, but Joan Laporta is working on improving his current deal regardless.
That should put an end to rumours of a move to Liverpool and Manchester City, although they are hard to believe as it is.
That’s largely because they come from Inda, a man who is well known as a keen partaker in the more outrageous transfer rumours and a lover of the attention they bring him.
In other words, take this one with a massive pinch of salt and then take a second for good measure when you inevitably come across it.
