Arsenal flyer leads in five-strong Barca right-back roll call
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Barcelona right-back Aleix Vidal’s Camp Nou career looks over after reportedly telling teammates he is seeking a new situation, having turned out just twice for the Catalan giants so far this season.
Liverpool are thought to be interested in the one-cap Spaniard, who only made his Barca debut last January after signing from Sevilla the previous summer, when boss Luis Enrique was banned from registering new players under a FIFA sanction.
Nominal midfielder Sergi Roberto has taken the 27-year-old’s place in defence, but Spanish sports paper Marca believes sporting director Robert Fernandez is tracking as many as five players who could take over from Vidal full-time.
Two of them – Juventus’ Stephan Lichtsteiner and Shakhtar Donetsk’s Darijo Srna – make little sense as potential targets, as the former is the younger of the pair at 32-years-old.
By contrast, none of Valencia’s Joao Cancelo, Bayern Munich’s Joshua Kimmich or Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin – the other three men mentioned by Marca – have so much as reached their 23rd birthdays.
Bellerin appears to be the ‘flavour of the month’ among football’s wealthy elite, with Manchester City – a club that nabbed Arsenal full-backs Bacary Sagna and Gael Clichy in recent years – thought to be readying a bid in excess of £40m for the 21-year-old when the transfer window reopens in the New Year.
Should he decide to leave north London, Bellerin could be torn between a return to his hometown team – where he spent eight years in the youth ranks before moving to England in 2011 – and working under Barca hero Pep Guardiola at City.
The Gunners are hoping to stave off such advances by offering Bellerin a new contract alongside fellow youngster Alex Iwobi, who only put pen to paper on a fresh deal six months ago.
Arsenal are 11/10 to beat Swansea to nil in their next Premier League fixture.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
