Barca have got their eyes on a ‘new Neymar’ at Brazilian club Santos, and to make it a big enough story for the Catalan media, they need some strong competition.
Sport go huge with the claims on Friday. Rodrygo gets the newspaper’s front page and then a double page spread inside.
When it comes to the competition, Liverpool and Manchester United get a mention.
The Blaugrana have been sprung into action because it’s been ‘verified’ to them that Real Madrid, PSG, Liverpool and Manchester United are all planning ‘dangerous approaches’ for the player.
At 17 years of age, Rodrygo could only move to England at the age of 18, and he’ll reach that milestone in January. He has a buyout clause of €50m at Santos, interested clubs will obviously look to pay less, but anything approaching that figure would help ease a work permit through.
Regardless of whether Rodrygo has played for the Brazilian national team at the time, if he’s moving for something around €30/35m+ then he should have no problems picking up the points needed for a work permit, making it easier for Liverpool, Manchester Untied and other Premier League clubs.
It’s not clear whether there’s genuine worry about interest from the English sides, or if they’re just being used to make the story a little more dramatic. Both clubs have scouts in South America and are routinely linked with players, but it only comes off very rarely.
