While President Laporta addressed the Barça senators on Wednesday to alert them to the complicated economic situation of the entity and insist on the need to activate at least two economic operations in the extraordinary assembly on June 14 “so that the club comes out of the ICU and go to the floor”, Jorge Mendes, soccer player representative, landed in Barcelona to have dinner at night at the Via Veneto restaurant with the leader without avoiding the media spotlight.
The agape was also attended by the vice-president Rafael Yuste, the football director, Mateu Alemany, and the technical secretary, Jordi Cruyff. They talked about Blaugrana players whom Mendes represents such as Trincão, Nico or Adama and also possible future players such as Di María, Rúben Neves or Bernardo Silva. The intermediary also brought an offer from Porto for Lenglet and drew up a player exchange plan with Barça for Carlos Soler from Valencia. This is the situation of each of them.
“We have offers but they don’t want to sell to you,” Mendes said as he left the restaurant. Although he is not the undisputed starter, Nico, who has a contract until 2024 and a clause of 500 million, has the confidence of the coaching staff who, today, also rule out a transfer.
Trincão left on loan to Wolverhampton a year ago with a non-mandatory purchase option that the English club has not executed. Discarded the exchange with Adama, who will return to England, Mendes looks for a team for the Portuguese. He has the interest of Sporting de Portugal on the table without ruling out Valencia.
Although Mendes does not represent the Valencia midfielder, he does have a lot of influence due to his proximity to his owner, Peter Lim. At dinner there was talk of introducing players like Riqui Puig, Dest or Trincão into the operation for Soler. Soler, who appreciates the Blaugrana’s interest, has one year left on his contract and does not plan to renew.
The 34-year-old striker would like to spend a year at the Camp Nou. Barça would welcome the operation due to his quality and because he would arrive free but would only consider it if they fail to sign Lewandowski. Di María also has an offer from Juventus.
The City midfielder is Xavi’s request if De Jong ends up leaving. But his arrival seems like a utopia. Guardiola likes him a lot and his starting price is 100 million. Impossible amount for Barça even activating the economic levers.
The undisputed starter at Wolverhampton, the 25-year-old Portuguese midfielder is one of Xavi’s requests without being the highest priority. He would serve to dose Busquets. He has a contract until 2024 and a market value of 40 million. As with all cases, it is complicated.
