What’s the story?
The Catalan giants seem to be going all out in their pursuit of PSG’s Marco Verratti. If reports coming in from Calcio Mercato are true, Barcelona are ready to offer Andre Gomes + €65m to convince the French side to send Verratti to the Nou Camp.
Barca are desperately pursuing players to take over the reins in midfield from the likes of Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets and had identified Verratti as the ideal candidate.
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The Blaugrana are desperate for the 24-year-old midfielder to sign for them. There were reports that emanated from Spanish media outlets earlier that the Catalan giants might offer Ivan Rakitic + cash in order to sign the Italian international.
Unai Emery, PSG’s current manager, though, rates Verratti highly and has made it clear that he is not willing to let go of the French side’s strongest influence in midfield.
Andre Gomes, meanwhile, had signed for Barcelona from Valencia in the 2016 summer for a fee of €35m + add ons.
The heart of the matter
Iniesta and Busquets’s dominion in the heart of the Barca midfield is fading away. With all the replacements, including Arda Turan and Andre Gomes, not up to the mark, Valverde has now set his sights on Verratti.
Andre Gomes mustered just one goal and three assists in 30 appearances in the La Liga in the 2016-17 season. The Portuguese international also failed to score or assist in his eight appearances in the UEFA Champions League.
Also read: Barcelona transfer round-up: PSG make €222m bid for Neymar, Verratti offer confirmed and more
On the other hand, Verratti managed three goals and seven assists in the Serie A and UEFA Champions League combined which are very good returns for a central midfielder. The Italian has still not peaked and his poise and control on the ball coupled with his immaculate passing ability might just be what is needed at the Nou Camp.
Rakitic, who had earlier been rumoured to be included in the swap deal for Verratti, exerts much more influence in the midfield than his Portuguese counterpart. Gomes. The Croat is also the highest goal-scoring central midfielder in the La Liga. Rakitic had expressed his thoughts on reuniting with Emery and said he’d ‘love to’ work with the manager with whom he’d won the Europa League in 2014 at Sevilla.
The Catalans will need to break the bank to make PSG even consider a deal.
Although he has had a slow start to his career at Barca, Gomes is not short on quality and Valverde will hope that including him in the deal will sweeten it up enough for PSG.
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Author’s take
Verratti is one of the best central midfielders in world football at the moment. At 24 years of age, his best years are ahead of him. Barcelona need to strengthen their midfield as they will find themselves short on options when Iniesta hangs his boots.
With most of their prized signings turning out to be Average Joes, Valverde is now looking to sign someone who has established himself on the grandest stage of them all and Verratti looks like he’ll fit in just perfectly at the Nou Camp.
