Gavi’s torn ACL and the poor form of Oriol Romeu means FC Barcelona need a significant midfield reinforcement in January. However, the Catalans have their hands bound when looking for players in the market because of their strained finances.
Still, the club is trying to do as much as it can to mitigate this problem, and according to SPORT, there is one particular midfielder being observed by Deco who can be a suitable candidate for Barcelona in this context.
This player in question is Andre, a 22-year-old midfielder playing for the Brazilian side Fluminense. He is already an international with Brazil and is also expected to feature in the Club World Cup this coming Friday.
Barcelona are monitoring the player primarily with an eye to incorporating him into their squad next summer. However, the urgent needs of the Catalan club can also see them make a move to sign Andre on loan in the upcoming winter transfer window. However, bringing him in January would not be anywhere near easy.
Firstly, Barcelona will have to convince Fluminense to give up one of their main stars for six months, as the Brazilians were thinking of retaining him till summer 2024. Barcelona also cannot offer a lot of wages to the midfielder because of their salary margin problems.
One factor that can make Barcelona’s work easy in this operation is Deco, who has good relations with the Fluminense administration, particularly because this was the last club that Deco played for before retiring.
Deco won the Brazilian Serie A twice with Fluminense, in 2010 and 2012. He also enjoys good relations with Andre’s agent, which also goes back to his time as a player.
Andre’s stock has been rising for some time now, and he has become an integral piece of the Fluminense side that won the Copa Libertadores for the first time in his club’s history last year.
He also has a good role with the Brazil national side, which was visible to everyone as Diniz decided to play him in the last match against Argentina.
