Being one of the biggest sources of footballing talent, FC Barcelona, more than most other European clubs, are always attentive to any potential talents emerging in South America.
Some of the Catalan club’s biggest legends have hailed from this part of the world, and they continue to put their trust in players from South America, as they recently grabbed up Vitor Roque despite the great competition from other European clubs for his signing.
Since Roque’s signing, the Blaugranes have been keeping their eyes on other such rising stars as well, and one of the players that has been linked with them lately is the Ecuadorian forward, Allen Obando. Only a day ago, it was reported that Barcelona are in the final phases of completing his signing.
However, according to SPORT, although Obando is among the players that are liked by the Catalan club, he is not really close to joining them at the moment. In fact, Barcelona higher-ups are surprised and disappointed by the statements made by the Barcelona S.C. de Guayaquil officials, in which they claimed that the Spanish club was quite close to finalizing the deal for the player.
Antonio Alvarez, one of the candidates for the presidency of the Ecuadorian club, had made these comments after having visited the Catalan club, where they met the vice-president Rafa Yuste, and also watched the match between Barcelona and Rayo Vallecano.
Some media reports had gone as far to claim that the youngster had already cleared his medical before signing for Barcelona. However, the Blaugrana club is not working at such a pace and asks for calm as Deco and Paulo Araujo decide on which youth football targets to invest in this summer.
Other than FC Barcelona, Obando has also been subject to interest from other clubs in his home country, and Alvarez also claimed that the player has received proposals from Paris Saint Germain and the Red Bull Group. However, Barcelona are quite doubtful about the veracity of these claims.
