Although Barcelona recently spent £48 million on Brazilian striker Neymar, the club feel that they need to sign a central defender this summer and that is seen as Barca’s top priority.
The humiliating 7-0 aggregate defeat by Bayern Munich in the Champions League highlighted Barcelona’s frailties at the back and manager Tito Vilanova will look to address that problem by signing a top quality central defender. Here are 10 defenders who have been linked with Barcelona this summer.
David Luiz- Chelsea
The Brazilian’s future at Chelsea has been the subject of a lot of speculation already this summer, with boss Jose Mourinho not thought to be a fan of Luiz. While Luiz can be brilliant going forward he can also cause problems at the back because of his tendency to try and get forward. This has caused many high profile mistakes and Mourinho is looking for a more solid central defender as he begins his second spell at Chelsea. This has led to reports that Luiz is going to be leaving Stamford Bridge this summer and Barcelona are seen as a possible destination.
While Luiz’s tendency to try and move the ball out of defence is seen as a weakness by Mourinho, it is seen as a strength at Barcelona, with the clubs centre backs needing to be comfortable on the ball in order to move it out of defence. The club were interested in Luiz last summer but the move fell through and Luiz remained at Chelsea. It appears that Barcelona are back for Luiz this summer but they will have competition from French champions Paris St Germain. The club want to partner Luiz with Thiago Silva as they look to try and win the Champions League. Luiz has also reportedly been talking about PSG with his Brazilian international team mates. Chelsea will be willing to let Luiz leave for £30 million.