Barcelona are close to ruling out Real Sociedad striker Willian José because of the ‘harsh conditions’ La Real have set for a deal to happen.
Barça are assessing their options, with it expected they will request an ‘emergency’ signing after Ousmane Dembélé was ruled out for six months with a hamstring tear.
Spanish laws allow cubs to sign a player if one of their current squad is ruled out for five months or more, although that player has to be either playing in Spain or a free agent.
Dembélé’s injury has opened the door for Barcelona to get the striker they missed out on in January now and one they’ve been heavily linked to is José.
According to Sport, while José is a target and Barcelona have been in contact with La Real to discover what it would take to make a move happen, the prices they’ve been quoted mean his signing has been ‘almost ruled out’.
According to the newspaper, Real Sociedad president, Jokin Aperribay has told Barça that he wants €50m to sell José, who has a release clause of €70m.
He set this price after talks with manager Imanol Alguacil, who told him that he is counting on the striker and the club should only sell if the offer is ‘irresistible’. The price they agreed upon is €50m.
This report would back up an earlier one from Marca, who also stated that the ‘cost of the operation’ was making things difficult for Barcelona.
While José was the ‘priority objective’ for the club, they were not willing to pay Sociedad’s asking price, which they stated was €35m.
Barcelona are only willing to pay €23m plus bonuses, meaning the two clubs are pretty far away in their valuations of the striker.
According to Marca, José is not the only option for the club, and it seems unless a middle ground can be found, he’ll face even further transfer frustration this month as he did in January.
