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Barcelona's pursuit of Thomas Meunier from Borussia Dortmund has suffered a fresh blow given the club's reluctance to sell him, according to Spanish news outlet SPORT.
The Belgian has been on the Catalans' radar for some time now as right-back Hector Bellerin has struggled for consistency.
Meunier was part of the Red Devils squad that went out in the group stages of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. However, that has done little to dilute interest from his potential suitors. Barcelona are still keen on signing Meunier but they will have pull out all the stops to convince Dortmund to let him go in the January transfer window.
The Bundesliga team's stance comes despite Meunier's stop-start time at Signal Iduna Park so far after dealing with injuries since joining from Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in 2020.
The full-back has been limited to only 14 appearances in the 2022-23 season before the World Cup break, including just eight outings in the Bundesliga.
If Barcelona are unable to complete a deal in time, they will have to look elsewhere to fulfill their transfer target, with Croatia's Josip Juranovic the latest player to emerge on their radar.
Barcelona looking to build on their impressive start to the campaign
Barcelona went into the mid-season break at the top of the La Liga table with 37 points from 14 games, two more than defending champions Real Madrid.
Since starting their top-flight campaign with a 0-0 draw with Rayo Vallecano, the Catalans have dropped points only to Los Blancos after losing 3-1 in the El Clasico. However, with Madrid themselves dropping points following the fixture, the Blaugrana stole a march over their rivals and sit atop the table.
With Robert Lewandowski firing at all cylinders, the Catalans are looking dangerous. They have scored 33 times so far while also running a taut ship at the back to concede only five times.
There are still another 24 matches to go but the club have looked sharp and fluid so far under manager Xavi Hernández. If the Blaugrana their position at the top of the table until the end of the season, they will be crowned the Spanish champions for the first time since the 2018-19 season.
