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West Ham United signed Fabián Balbuena from Corinthians in the summer and his exit from the Brazilian club provided Leo Santos an opportunity to become a first team regular.

Mundo Deportivo has a story about the 19-year-old in Friday’s edition of the newspaper and they claim the defender is on the radar of Barcelona.

Ernesto Valverde’s side is looking to strengthen that position, with Thomas Vermaelen expected to leave the club at the end of the season as a free agent.

Technical secretary Eric Abidal’s assistant Ramón Planes was in South America recently, along with Andre Cury, who has a non-exclusive contractual relationship with the La Liga leaders to watch players from the Brazilian market.

The centre-back impressed for the Brazilian champions and his shining display has resulted in him being ‘underlined in red’ on the Blaugrana’s agenda and they will closely watch his development.

Santos’ contract at Corinthians runs down in 2020 and he’s a right sided centre-back, who can also play in the left centre-back position. With Gerard Pique as the only right centre-back at Barca, the teenager’s profile is valued highly at the La Liga outfit. 

The report mentions that Real Madrid are also following Santos, having previously signed his compatriots, Vinicius and Rodrygo, who were targets for the Camp Nou outfit.