Although Neymar is not going to stop being a dream for Barça all summer, his signing has been complicated at almost unsolvable levels. To begin with, the obligatory reduction in salaries at Barça, who will face a large cut in his salary this summer which could reach 200 million, already left the Brazilian return operation very touched. Pretending that a player who reaches 50 million euros clean a year drops to 20 with a stroke of the pen does not seem real except for an unexpected gesture by the Brazilian. In addition, the Qatari pride of PSG, well known to Barça from Thiago Silva or Marquinhos to Neymar, through Verratti, does not conceive giving carte blanche to the Brazilian to become the prodigal son of Barça. Those two factors, plus a certain rejection in a specific sector of the social mass due to the cost of his signing (which meant the first judicial conviction in the history of Barça as a club), his escape and the cross demands between the Neymar clan and the club, put the signing of an absolutely decisive player uphill, which, yes , is the express request of Messi …
But Neymar has also been eclipsed by two names that, at this time, are the ones that excite Barcelona. The first, Lautaro Martínez (1997), has been a commitment of the club for two seasons. Barça followed Luka Jovic last year, whom he saw almost twenty times live. He liked it for his talent to define, but the technicians considered it too static and, in addition, they were aware that Suárez would continue to be untouchable this course. Since then, Lautaro has been in the desired pole position. His progression this year, confirmed with his two games against Barça in the Champions League, made him the number one goal. Barça intensified its follow-up since summer and he liked everything he saw, including those two games in the group stage of the Champions League. The information that assumes that the player raised in Racing has agreed to Barça and that Inter is willing to start a negotiation to close the deal multiplies. Without cash to pay the € 111 million clause that frees the Argentine from his contract with Inter in the first week of July, Barça's plan is to reach those market values by paying an entry (€ 60 million) and completing it with players to choose for Inter: Semedo, Arturo Vidal, Rafinha, Dembélé, Coutinho are on the list. To choose.
Contrary to PSG, in Italy the barter culture has been widespread for decades, Transfers that in Spain would have been misunderstood like the Baggio, which went from Juventus to Milan and Inter, are part of a way of operating. The famous 'mercato'. In the last times, Juve and Barça have activated an alliance that threatens a multi-test. Two players mark it. Sarri loves Arthur, who has not yet finished triumphing at Barça, who in turn is very interested in Pjanic. The Barça club considers a player of much more rennet than the Brazilian and mature, perfect to help Messi in the last years of his career. Pjanic, an old dream of Barça, wants to wear Barça, and at 30 years old he is considered to be in his ideal state (watch the odometer, which started young), but at this moment the operation, even though names like Semedo have come out , Rugani, De Sciglio, Junior or Emerson, is in the hands of Arthur. Interestingly, Neymar's friend, overshadowed by this barter game for which PSG does not pass and which makes Lautaro and Pjanic the two fashion names in the Barça universe, with Bartomeu immersed in his role as sports vice president trying to compose a squad attractive for her last year in office.