Barcelona star Gavi suffered a serious knee injury with Spain and is set to miss the rest of the season. This has seen the Catalan club get linked with a few midfielders, including Tottenham Hotspur’s Giovani Lo Celso.
On Thursday, Mundo Deportivo stated the 27-year-old is the priority target for both the La Liga side and their manager, Xavi Hernández. It was also reported a ‘green light’ has been given for a potential deal in January.
Friday’s AS states the Barcelona coach likes the Tottenham player and highly ‘values’ his profile.
The newspaper have also issued a warning to the Blaugrana over making an approach for Lo Celso in the winter market.
They say the Argentina international is a ‘risky bet’, due to his injury history and concerns over his fitness. Since the start of the 2019/20 season, the former Real Betis man has missed 315 days due to multiple injuries.
These injuries has had an impact his market value as AS state it has dropped from €50m [in 2019] to €14m now.
At Tottenham, he’s been restricted to 83 minutes of action from four games this season, and was forced to miss September’s fixtures due to a hamstring injury.
Taking all this into account, the report claims it’s ‘risky’ for Barca to consider Lo Celso as an option to replace Gavi.
The Spanish giants have indicated a potential deal for a new midfielder in the winter market depends on them raising €40m through another ‘lever’.
Once they have more clarity about their finances, Barca may analyse whether or not to make an approach for Lo Celso.
