By the player’s agents, FC Barcelona has been offered a Brazil national team star currently plying … [+]
By the player’s agents, FC Barcelona has been offered a Brazil national team star currently plying his trade in the Premier League according to SPORT, which cited anonymous sources.
Barca badly needs to strengthen the pivot position ahead of next season, after failing to find a suitable replacement for former captain Sergio Busquets – who fled to join Lionel Messi at Inter Miami last summer – played an integral role in the Catalans ceding their La Liga and Spanish Super Cup titles to bitter rivals Real Madrid.
Around the time that the number 5 departed, Barca’s financial predicament ruled it out of making solid approaches for the likes of Joshua Kimmich and Martin Zubimendi, who were now-ex head coach Xavi Hernandez’s choices to succeed Busquets.
And though the same financial constraints exist a year down the line – with publicly complaining about them costing Xavi his job – the market knows what Barca needs.
To this end, the agents of Brazil and Aston Villa star Douglas Luiz have offered him to the Catalans through “insistent” telephone calls made to Sporting Director Deco, according to SPORT.
Luiz knows the lay of the land well in Catalonia after spending two years on loan at Girona.
Unable to make an impact at Manchester City, however, he was sold to Villa who he has recently helped reach the European Cup – of course known as the Champions League these days – for the first time in 41 years.
At 26, Luiz is coming into his peak after half a decade in Birmingham and will represent his country in the United States at the Copa America as it tries to snatch back the continental crown from bitter rivals Argentina.
Yet even if there is some truth in Luiz being offered to Barca, it appears as though the Rio de Janeiro native might have already played his last game for Villa.
As reported by Sky Sports in the UK and various other outlets, Luiz and Villa are in advanced talks with Italian giants Juventus regarding a transfer.
If finalized, it will see Weston McKennie and Samuel Iling-Junior head the other way to the Premier League.