Barcelona have been quite active in the transfer market in the past couple of days with their name being linked with a number of players. Ilkay Gundogan was the flavor of the media yesterday with continuous links about his exit from the club.
One player that the Spanish club has wanted throughout this summer but failed to sign so far is Nico Williams of Athletic Bilbao. Now, they have identified an alternative to him and are interested in signing Federico Chiesa, as we covered yesterday.
It has now emerged as per Gianluca Di Marzio via SPORT that Barcelona are advancing in negotiations with Chiesa’s agent Fali Ramadani in the hope of reaching an agreement in the next few days. They want to reach an economic understanding with Juventus.
The report adds that Chiesa wasn’t Barcelona’s first choice which is quite obvious but has now emerged as one of the likeliest options alongside Kingsley Coman. Between the duo, the Spanish club prefers the Italian at the moment.
Chiesa is still just 26 years old and could cost just €14m this summer. The key thing to iron out in his contract would be his salary. The player earns €6m net per year in Italy and would have to adjust his salary to tailor Barcelona’s situation.
The exits of Ilkay Gundogan and Clement Lenglet should facilitate Barcelona to sign Chiesa this summer. At 26, he has not hit the heights once envisioned for him due to a knee injury that he suffered but a fresh start could offer him hope of a new beginning.
Chiesa is undoubtedly talented and at the price at which he is available, there is a huge upside to this transfer for Barcelona. It makes sense to sign him this summer, provided he passes all medical tests and let’s see how this pans out in the coming days.
