Barcelona News Roundup: Barca plotting move for Juventus star, Coutinho refuses to rule out Liverpool return and more: 30 November 2020

Barcelona thrashed Osasuna 4-0 at the Camp Nou yesterday and Martin Braithwaite, Antoine Griezmann, Philippe Coutinho and Lionel Messi got on the scoresheet. Without further ado, let's take a look at the top stories involving Barcelona from 30 November 2020.

Presidential candidate Laporta confident Messi will stay

FC Barcelona v C.A. Osasuna - La Liga Santander

One of the top candidates for the role of the Barcelona president is Joan Laporta and he has now said that he believes Lionel Messi can be convinced to stay put at Barcelona. Messi is currently in the final months of his contract and speculation is rife over his future.

Joan Laporta was the president of Barcelona from 2003 to 2010 where they enjoyed unprecedented success. Upon announcing his candidacy for the upcoming elections, Laporta said,

"No one can have any doubt that Messi loves Barcelona, in our relationship we respect and love each other,"

"I have not spoken with him because I think it would not be convenient to speak without having the power to decide, the elections have to pass, I hope to have the confidence of the members to be president and then I'm sure we'll talk but we haven't done it yet.

"Leo loves Barcelona."

Philippe Coutinho refuses to rule out Liverpool return

Barcelona midfielder Coutinho was asked about his future and he refused to rule out a return to his former club Liverpool where he burgeoned into a superstar. In an interview with World Soccer (via Sport), Coutinho talked about his experience in the Premier League.

“The Premier League is one of the most exciting leagues in the world. “Having the opportunity to play for a team like Liverpool will always be something for which I will be grateful.

“It’s impossible to say what might or might not happen in the future. Right now my only goal is be successful with Barcelona.”

Barcelona preparing to make a move for De Ligt

According to TuttoJuve, reports in Spain claim that Barcelona have remained interested in Juventus centre-back Matthijs De Ligt and are now plotting a move for him in the wake of their new injury crisis which has exposed the thin cover at the back.

Juventus beat Barcelona to the signature of Matthis De Ligt in the summer of 2019. According to the report, Barcelona are trying to move closer with Mino Raiola, the player's agent, in order to convince him to come to the Camp Nou.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Shambhu Ajith