Barcelona Transfer News: Chelsea & Man United to make £100m bid for Barca player; Barca to make final bid for world-class midfielder, and more - 20th, January 2019
Barcelona play Leganes in a La Liga clash on Sunday night, and the Catalans will hope to extend their lead over second-placed Atletico Madrid back to five points.
Here is all the Barcelona news and rumours of today:
#1 Valverde speaks about Vela and de Jong
Barcelona is keen to add some players in the January transfer window, especially in central midfield, as well as a striker. Two players that they have been linked with is former Arsenal and Real Sociedad striker Carlos Vela, while the other is highly rated midfielder, Frenkie de Jong.
Speaking about de Jong in his press conference ahead of the Leganes match, manager Ernesto Valverde had this to say: "I insist on the same answers – he's a great player who is on another team. If I start talking about what's going on in the press, it's not going to go away. I'm not going to comment on this. All the respect to De Jong and Ajax."
Valverde was also asked about another player the club has been linked with, Carlos Vela, but the manager did not reveal any details about a possible transfer, evading the question: "He's a great player. He's played in our league but we don't normally talk about players from other clubs. A lot is said about every name that comes up. I can understand, being Mexican (the reporter who asked the question was Mexican, why you are interested but he plays for another club."
Spanish media reports suggest that a deal to sign Vela could be finalised soon and the 29-year-old could return to La Liga by the end of the January transfer window.
#2 Barca to make a final bid for midfielder
Barcelona has pursued Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong for quite a while now, and while reports suggested that a deal was all but done, French club Paris Saint-Germain swooped in and appear to be frontrunners in the signature of the world-class midfielder.
Marca has now reported that Barcelona's management team, which includes Josep Maria Bartomeu, Pep Segura, Eric Abidal and Ramon Planes have gone to Amsterdam to speak to Ajax to resume talks to sign the player and land one final bid.
The Catalans were also linked with de Jong's teammate, Matthijs de Ligt, but even he seems to have not picked Barcelona as his next destination.