Barcelona willing to offer 5-year-deal worth €8m-a-season for 25-year-old midfielder - Reports

Barcelona have set their sights on AC Milan star Franck Kessie. According to El Nacional, the Catalans are willing to offer the Ivorian a five-year contract worth €8 million per season.

This comes after they lost to Juventus in the race to sign Denis Zakaria from Borussia Monchengladbach.

Barcelona opted to wait until the summer when he became a free agent but the Swiss international didn't want to wait until then.

The Bianconeri swooped in with a €5 million offer plus another €3 million in variables, which the Foals accepted.

It was a huge blow to Barcelona, who'd been desperately seeking reinforcements in midfield.

Sergio Busquets is no longer the force he once was and Kessie has been identified as the next best player to replace him in the holding role.

Barcelona looking to boost lackluster midfield

Signed on an initial loan deal from Atalanta in 2017, the 25-year-old's eye-catching displays convinced the Rossoneri to make the move permanent two years later.

He's repaid the faith by maintaining that form, while also playing a big part in their Champions League return with 13 Serie A goals in the 2020-21 season.

Overall, his record stands at 35 goals and 16 assists in 205 games - not bad for someone who primarily starts in the center of the park. His prowess at set-pieces is well-documented, while dispatching penalties with unerring accuracy.

Kessie's contract with Milan expires in June this year, and with extension talks currently deadlocked, he's most likely to leave the San Siro as a free agent.

Stefano Pioli's side looked to avoid such a situation by selling him off in January for a fee they deemed acceptable. PSG and Tottenham Hotspur reportedly showed interest but no deal was struck before the transfer window shut yesterday.

The fact that he was in Cameroon at the African Cup of Nations from the start of the month anyway served to complicate matters further.

However, with Ivory Coast getting knocked out in the quarter-finals, he's back in training and the club will hope to convince him to stay for the remainder of the season.