Barcelona and other European sides continue to work their way through January. Despite having to face opponents here and there during the month, they simultaneously have the transfer window to worry about. Barcelona, in particular, hope to reinforce and improve their situation.
The first arrival of the new year came in the form of Vitor Roque. Clearing up his registration rather quickly, Barça wasted no time in giving him his debut. However, beyond just arrivals, Barcelona are also looking towards finalizing other pending issues.
One such issue is the future of French defender Clement Lenglet. The 28-year-old Barcelona player is currently on loan at English Premier League side Aston Villa. However, his time there is proving to be far from ideal for him. In fact, his prominence has diminished quite a lot and he is rarely deployed by Unai Emery.
Seeing this as an opportunity, Serie A side Napoli wish to take advantage. As per SPORT, the Italian team wishes for Lenglet to end his loan spell with Aston Villa and come over to Naples. However, fleshing such a deal out will be far from easy.
First, the player would have to cut off the loan deal with the English side. For this to happen, both Aston Villa and Barcelona must be in agreement to do so. However, the possibility of his current employers listening to such an offer feels unlikely.
Irrespective of his play time, Unai Emery sees Lenglet as a solid alternative option in defense. However, Napoli are also insistent about somehow ensuring the Frenchman’s arrival over to Italy.
Yet, one thing that everyone must keep in mind is that Barcelona will also be facing Napoli in the Champions League. The Round of 16 will see the Catalan giants take on the side from Naples. For this reason, reinforcing a direct rival could also be a problem that Barça assesses.
Apart from just Lenglet, however, Napoli also have other targets. With their goal being to overtake Barcelona in the UCL, Napoli are willing to invest close to €60 million to reinforce their side, as per recent reports.
