Barcelona are reportedly open to a player swap deal with Juventus involving Ivan Rakitic and Emre Can before the transfer deadline.
The Catalan giants suffered defeat in their opening La Liga game of the season as they made a far from ideal start to the defence of their league crown.
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Coupled with injuries to the likes of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Ousmane Dembele, it hasn’t been a happy start to the campaign for coach Ernesto Valverde.
While they now switch their attention to Real Betis this weekend, transfer speculation remains rife over possible business that they will do before the deadline.
As reported by Calciomercato, via the paper edition of Sport, it has been suggested that Barcelona could green light a player swap deal which would see Rakitic and Can switch clubs.
However, it’s added that two problems exist in such a move, and they are crucial ones. It’s noted that the valuations of the two may well differ and so cash will perhaps have to be included from one party, while there is a difference in wage demands between the pair as well.
In turn, it sounds as though it may well be quite complicated to get a deal done, but the report does note that Barcelona are potentially keen on the switch.
It would be quite the surprise if they did opt to sell Rakitic though, given the 31-year-old Croatian stalwart has made 269 appearances for the club since joining in 2014, featuring in 50 or more outings in every campaign in that time.
Valverde evidently still values him highly, but should compromises be reached on the points mentioned above, it could see Rakitic head for Turin with Can heading in the opposite direction to join Barcelona just a year on from leaving Liverpool on a free transfer.
