Wednesday, 12 June 2013

Barca's defensive dilemma continues

Barcelona's transfer plans around March looked to be all set out, the priority for the club was a top CB and they were prepared to pay whatever it took to get one. The names being floated about were people like Mats Hummels, Thiago Silva and David Luiz and all of those purchases would cost Barcelona well in excess of 20m. They also need to replace David Villa, who has one year left on his contract and there is the question of when goalkeeper Victor Valdes will actually depart and whether they want to bring someone in this summer to prepare for that, or replace him straightaway.
After the Neymar purchase they've looked at the cupboard and it's a little empty, the club simply don't have the spending power to be able to go out and get whoever they want as first choice, especially when the incoming player will be used as mainly back-up.
This is the situation with a stand-in for Puyol, they want a tough defender who can play the ball too and today's edition of Sport has picked out Liverpool's Daniel Agger as a man who fits the bill. They say Barcelona have been considering his signing for several summers, but that his price has always seemed a little on the high side for someone they would use mainly as a substitute. However, with Puyol getting injuries more frequently, the player they bring in needs to be capable and Sport claim Barcelona think Agger fits into that category.
Agger's contract runs until the summer of 2016 and Liverpool will be in no hurry to sell the 28 year old but Barcelona reckon a fee around 15m would be enough to prise him away and that he'd like the opportunity to play for a team at the highest level who can truly challenge for titles on both the domestic and European fronts.
If they can't get Agger, then they go further down their choice tree to Jeremy Mathieu who they think would be available for just €8m given this contract situation. 
There is more and more speculation surrounding Agger at the moment. The defender, who shares an agent with Wayne Rooney, was in the news again a week ago when French newspaper L'Equipe said he was close to agreeing a four year deal to join Monaco. It could be that his potential availability is being pushed around to see if Liverpool respond with a contract extension or if a club like Barcelona will truly make a move.

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