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Hello and welcome to the daily Barcelona transfer round-up - your one-stop shop for all the latest Barc transfer news and rumours!
Without further ado, let's have a look at the top stories concerning the LaLiga leaders today.
Neymar set for a Camp Nou return
According to reports in Catalunya Radio, Brazilian winger Neymar's entourage met with Barcelona scout Andre Cury late last year over a possible return for Neymar back to Camp Nou.
Cury is an important member of Barcelona's backroom staff as he is a key figure in handling the club's Brazilian operations. He met with Pini Zahavi, the agent, who was the man behind Neymar's move to PSG a couple of back and Alvaro Costa, who is an inmate of Neymar and a go-between for Barcelona and Nike.
With such influential figures meeting to discuss about the future of Neymar, one cannot rule out the Brazilian moving back to Barcelona in the near future. Even Barcelona captain Leo Messi recently admitted that he would love to have Neymar back at the club.
“Neymar back to Barcelona? I see it is complicated. We would love him to come back for what he means, both as a player and for the locker room. We are friends, we lived through nice moments and others not so nice, but we spend a lot of time together. However, I find it very difficult for him to leave Paris. PSG is not going to let Neymar go," Messi told Marca
Over the last few days, there were a lot of rumours, especially in the Catalan press, that Neymar is desperate for a move back to Barcelona and the news of this direct meeting between the two parties that could prove pivotal. Neymar, who was bought by Barcelona in 2013, moved to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 for a world-record transfer fee.
Munir frozen out of the squad
According to Barcelona forward Munir El Haddadi's agent Francisco Valdivieso, the Morocco-born Spanish international has been frozen out of the squad because of his contract situation with the Catalan side. Now, it has also been confirmed that the Barca board broke the promises they made to the player and manager Ernesto Valverde has given his decision to Munir that he would not be picked to play until he renewed his contract.
He also confirmed that his agent has decided to see out his contract and leave the club at the end of the season and join LaLiga rivals Sevilla in the summer.
"The week against Celta, Munir hears the news from the coach that he will not be called up more until he decides to renew. The player is very thankful to Barça and is absolutely committed to the club because he knows he has a contract until June but the bad part is that after all the promises from the club and from the coach at the start of the year, they don’t count on him," his agent told BeIN Sports.
Barcelona's transfer targets identified
It looks like Barcelona have identified the areas where they need reinforcements and have a place for the ongoing 2019 January transfer window and on how to approach the summer window is still somewhat a mystery.
According to a number of reports in Spain, Barcelona will look to strengthen their central defence in January apart from buying another midfielder in winter with some crucial matches in LaLiga and Champions League coming up in the forthcoming months.
Once the season is over, Barcelona are expected to enter the market in a bid to bolster their attack ahead of the new season. Luis Suarez will turn 32 soon and with Paco Alcacer moving to Borussia Dortmund and Munir set to leave in the summer, there is not a single striker who can be termed as a reliable back-up for Suarez next season and rightly, the board is looking to bring in a forward in the summer.
Denis Suarez agrees to join Arsenal
Barcelona superstar Denis Suarez is all set for a reunion with Unai Emery as he has given his green signal to join Arsenal on loan until the end of the season. While there were reports that Barca are not sure about letting the 25-year-old leave the club, Suarez has been convinced by Emery, his manager at Sevilla, to move to the Emirates stadium.
Arsenal are also expected to have an option of signing him for €25m. It was earlier reported that Suarez is unhappy at Barcelona at the moment as he has made just six appearances and played a total of 221 minutes for the defending LaLiga champions across all competitions this season. The Spanish international has attracted interest from West Ham, Arsenal, Everton and AC Milan apart from Arsenal.
