Exclusive: Arsenal, Liverpool & Man Utd have made contact over potential €100m transfer

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Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United are all interested in Ansu Fati and have made some contact with the Barcelona forward, though not with his club yet.

According to Ben Jacobs in his weekly exclusive CaughtOffside column, the Spain international could be one to watch this summer, though it would likely take a huge offer in the region of €100million to prise him away from Barcelona.

Fati has long looked a terrific prospect at the Nou Camp, and it seems Barca are not too keen on the idea of letting him go.

Clubs have not yet approached Barcelona over Fati, but it seems Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd have made some early inroads via the player’s side of things.

Discussing the latest on Fati’s future, Jacobs said: “Barcelona boss Xavi has come out and said that Ansu Fati is not for sale, but sometimes financial needs must. Any outgoings this summer will be against the backdrop of Barcelona’s need to cut their wage bill by €150-200m or bring in significant income. Fati is by no means one the highest earners at the club, but he’s still on an excellent wage and a young and talented forward who will command a healthy fee.

Ansu Fati celebrates a goal for Barcelona

“Clubs from the Premier League have made contact on the player’s side, which is also why Barcelona are distancing themselves from the speculation because they are not the ones involved in any talks yet.

“It’s very plausible that Fati could cost somewhere in the region of €100m, which would be a club-record for many of the suitors interested and a big price compared to his form right now.

“A series of knee injuries seem to have affected his overall development. But Fati has still got all of the attributes to add goals, dynamism, creativity and versatility to either Barcelona or whatever club he moves on to next.

“For now, the player simply craves consistent game time. Last season he scored four goals in ten LaLiga games. This campaign he’s played 20 matches but only added three goals and hasn’t had as many minutes as he would have liked. Plus there’s massive pressure wearing the No.10 shirt at Barcelona and Fati hasn’t been as clinical or explosive as many predicted.

“At this stage, we have Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal as the three Premier League clubs who are doing due diligence on Fati via the player side. I don’t think there’s as much to the Bayern Munich links.

“There is at least some encouragement, as I understand it, on the player side, that he is intrigued by the Premier League club but there remains firm discouragement from both Xavi and Joan Laporta: Fati is way down on the list of the players Barca wish to sell, so it would probably be a club-record offer for these teams to alter Barcelona’s thinking. Fati may also play a part if, come May, he still feels like he’s owed more minutes.”

Arsenal would certainly do well to bring in a top class signing in attack, as they’ve lacked depth behind Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli this season, with January signing Leandro Trossard perhaps not looking like someone who’s likely to be that long-term an option, or an automatic starter.

Liverpool have made a number of attacking signings in recent times, with Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz coming in in the last three transfer windows, but further changes could be useful after the departure of Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah’s slight loss of form.

United surely also need to bring in someone like Fati as an upgrade on inconsistent performers like Jadon Sancho and Antony, who haven’t made particularly convincing starts to life at Old Trafford.

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