Barcelona officials in Brazil for €50m target, transfer business not finished

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Barcelona have reportedly sent officials to Brazil to negotiate a possible deal for Gremio midfielder Arthur, although he won’t arrive straight away.

The Catalan giants have been busy this month, bringing in Yerry Mina and Philippe Coutinho to address two key areas of the squad with players who they will naturally hope are long-term pillars of their future.

However, according to Marca, they’re not yet finished as representatives have arrived in Brazil to talk about Arthur.

The 21-year-old is said to have a €50m release clause while he can’t join Barca this month due to the fact that they’ve filled their non-EU quota. Further, as per Marca, the La Liga leaders aren’t keen on splashing out on his reported price-tag and so will try to negotiate it down.

Given the number of options at Ernesto Valverde’s disposal in midfield currently, it’s arguably not the right move to sign him and integrate him into the squad any time soon anyway as the Brazilian ace would surely benefit from staying in his homeland for the time being and continuing his development with regular playing time.

Barcelona deserve credit for their work this month and potential work with Arthur. Valverde needed defensive reinforcements with a lack of depth behind Samuel Umtiti and Gerard Pique, which Mina provides and at 23, he’ll hope to be around for a long time.

In addition, Coutinho, 25, will hope to take on more and more responsibility as Andres Iniesta edges closer to the end of his playing career.

Arthur would seemingly follow a similar strategy, with Sergio Busquets turning 30 this year along with Paulinho and Ivan Rakitic.

The Catalan outfit need to lower the average age of their squad by adding players who could be key to their long-term future, and given their reported pursuit of Arthur, they evidently believe that he fits the mould of what they’re looking for beyond this season.

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