Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling is reportedly tempted by the prospect of a transfer to Barcelona, especially now that Xavi has become the club’s new manager, according to Sport.
The England international has been a world class performer for City down the years, but it seems he’s now increasingly out of favour with manager Pep Guardiola, and could perhaps benefit from a new challenge.
Barcelona need to make changes to their squad after a difficult year, with Lionel Messi likely to be close to impossible to replace, though a signing like Sterling wouldn’t be a bad start.
Liverpool star Mohamed Salah has also been linked with Barca by El Nacional, but Sterling might be a more realistic target due to him no longer being a regular at the Etihad Stadium.
According to Sport, Sterling seems particularly keen to move to the Nou Camp now that Xavi has taken over, which just shows the pull factor of the legendary former midfielder taking over from Ronald Koeman.
Even though Xavi remains inexperienced at the highest level of management, it’s clear he’s already got a lot of respect from the big names in the game.