On Monday morning, there was a belief that Getafe’s Ángel Rodríguez was set to join Barcelona.
Later that day, AS reported Martin Braithwaite had emerged as a new target, and Sport then explained there was a ‘certain nervousness’ at Leganés over the 28-year-old’s future at the club.
Today’s edition of Sport states Ángel and the Denmark international have been identified as two targets, but there’s division at Camp Nou over which player the club must sign.
Quique Setién has urged technical secretary Eric Abidal to bring in a new striker after La Liga gave the Spanish champions permission to make a new addition outside the transfer window.
According to the report, Setién has always preferred Braithwaite over Ángel because of the Dane’s versatile profile.
Barcelona had initially agreed a deal with Getafe for the Spaniard, but their manager’s ‘insistence has been key’ in changing the transfer plans.
Braithwaite has an €18m release clause and Barca view that figure to be high. Leganés also don’t want to negotiate, especially after losing Youssef En-Nesyri to Sevilla in January.
If Barca ‘love’ Braithwaite, they have to pay his clause or convince Leganés of the ‘advantages of reaching an agreement that will benefit all parties‘.
Leganés’ sources informed Sport on Monday that their player won’t be leaving the club, but things can change.
Though the front page of Sport states ‘Barca finalises the signing of the forward of Leganes at the request of Quique Setien and will pay 18 million euros’, there’s nothing within the report to back up that Barcelona will meet Braithwaite’s asking price.
Sport only claims Barca’s intention is to sign a new forward ‘within a matter of hours’.
It’ll be interesting to see how things develop.
