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Justin Kluivert opens up about Lionel Messi's endorsement
Kluivert Sr. had a successful time at Camp Nou, scoring over 120 goals for the Catalan club. Now, his son is following in his footsteps and is already making a name for himself at Dutch side, Ajax. The 19-year old has scored six goals so far this season and is bound to attract attention for both his talent and the surname.
He recently addressed the speculation surrounding Lionel Messi who allegedly spoke to the Barcelona board for bringing the wide attacker to Spain. Justin Kluivert said:
“I’m not in contact with Messi, so I don’t know if it’s true. Only he knows if that happened, but it’s nice to hear."
He further spoke about his ambition for the near future and said:
“My two main goals are winning the Eredivisie title with Ajax and then making my debut for the Netherlands, and of course to keep improving. I want to improve on everything. I’m still young. I give everything in training and I also make a point of trying to improve even the things that already going well.”
Messi's endorsement or not, if Kluivert Jr. continues to develop in the same vein, he is bound to end up at Barcelona one day.
Lyon starlet Houssem Aouar speaks about Barcelona links
The 19-year old is one of the highly-rated youngsters in world football. Coming through the famed Lyon academy which saw the likes of Karim Benzema and Samuel Umtiti become superstars of the game, the young midfielder is set to follow in the same footsteps.
Now, Aouar has spoken about his links to Barcelona and Liverpool when he said:
"I hear the rumours, like you. I have ears! I have eyes too, to see a few things left and right. The guy who says he doesn’t hear stuff or listen to anything, is not telling the truth. But there’s nothing you can do. All of that doesn’t bother me."
“I’m well protected with my family. It’s nice to hear, but I’m not getting carried away. My feet are firmly on the ground. I’ve only got a good half-season behind me, and I have everything to develop at Lyon.”
On further asked whether he would fancy joining Barcelona, Aouar said:
“Of course, but that applies to every great club! It’s normal to be ambitious at 19.”
Thus, the talent is definitely there and a little chat with Umtiti and Ousmane Dembele could be sufficient to pull the Frenchman to Camp Nou.
Arthur deal collapsed
The news is true if Marca is to be believed. The outlet states that negotiations between Barcelona and Gremio hierarchy have not gone down well in the past week and a deal looks unlikely now. Several problems were cited to be the reason behind the collapse with payment of commissions and the player's salary possible sticking points.
However, Marca reports another possible reason in the form of the unavailability of a spot for Arthur, come January 2019. The Blaugrana have already filled their quota of non-EU players with Paulinho, Philippe Coutinho, and Yerry Mina. Unless Coutinho gets his dual citizenship approved, it is difficult for the Gremio midfielder to find a spot.
Thus, Valverde might not be able to add Arthur to his squad in the current scenario and the Copa Libertadores star will have to bide his time before he finds another suitor.
