Gossip: Klopp and Pep chase Barca teen; Sanchez return
Liverpool and Man City are looking to take advantage of Barcelona’s woes and Alexis Sanchez’s return…
GOING FOR GAVI
Barcelona, cash-strapped though they are, are still seeing quality emerge from their La Masia academy. The trick will be hanging on to them.
17-year-old Gavi joined the Barcelona academy at the age of 11, signed his first professional contract with the club in the summer of 2020, and has already made his debut for the Spain national team – he’s quite the player.
And he’s caught the eye of several European giants, including Manchester City and Liverpool.
El Nacional (via the Daily Mail) claim Klopp is very interested, and Liverpool are willing to offer Gavi £80,000-a-week – 50 times more than his current £1,600-a-week salary at the Nou Camp – to lure him to Anfield.
Pep Guardiola is similarly keen and Manchester City will presumably have no problem offering him a similar wage, and like Liverpool, will be happy to pay what is a relatively low release clause of €50million (£41.7 million).
Barcelona won’t want Gavi to leave and the midfielder himself is said to be ‘hesitant’ to leave the Catalans as he is excited by the prospect of rebuilding the club alongside Pedri and Ansu Fati, two other promising young stars.
Barcelona need to raise funds and make space on their wage bill to register new signing Ferran Torres. Philippe Coutinho joining Aston Villa will help in that regard and they will hope to move on expendable stars with greater wages than Gavi to solve the problem.
SANCHEZ TO EVERTON
Coutinho’s move to Villa seems to have got people wondering which other former (possibly past it) stars could make a sensational return to the Premier League. Everton interest in Alexis Sanchez is a classic of the genre.
Rafael Benitez – himself on borrowed time at Goodison Park – fears losing either Dominic Calvert-Lewin or Richarlison in the current window or in the summer.
Sanchez, according to The Sun, is one of two potential replacements should Calvert-Lewin or Richarlison leave the club.
The other is New York City’s Argentina under-23 striker Valentin ‘Taty’ Castellanos, top scorer in the MLS last term.
Sanchez – who would join Everton on loan from Inter Milan – would be a huge gamble given his last taste of Premier League action for Manchester United.
Having scored 80 goals in 166 games for Arsenal, he managed just five in 45 for United before moving to Inter, initially on loan, before the deal was made permanent.
Castellanos, 23, is under contract with New York until 2025 and would be available for around £14m from the MLS side.
VILLA TURN TO BISSOUMA
Aston Villa are ‘interested in’ Brighton midfielder Yves Bissouma, according to Sky Sports – aren’t we all?
Bissouma – who is currently away on international duty with Mali at the Africa Cup of Nations – has been linked with a number of top Premier League clubs, including Liverpool, and has now entered the final 18 months of his contract.
Brighton boss Graham Potter has said he expects players linked with moves away to stay at the club until the summer at least.
But Sky Sports’ Dharmesh Sheth says it looks like “Aston Villa are really going for it in this transfer window.”
