Barcelona are interested in signing Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante and are willing to use Andre Gomes as a makeweight to get a deal over the line, claims Gianluca Di Marzio.
Chelsea are on the verge of appointing Napoli boss Maurizio Sarri with midfield star Jorginho set to join the Italian in moving to Stamford Bridge.
Barcelona believe Jorginho’s arrival could open up the door to Kante’s departure and are willing to test Chelsea’s resolve with a cash-plus-player offer.
The Spanish giants have already signed Gremio starlet Arthur this week but are keen to sign Kante, who is regarded as the best player in the world in his defensive midfield position.
Gomes has struggled to make any impact at Barcelona since joining from Valencia in 2016 and Ernesto Valverde’s want to sell the Portugal international.
Kante’s Chelsea departure would be a hugely unpopular decision among supporters and only heap more pressure on Jorginho to hit the ground running.
The 27-year-old has been immense for France at the 2018 World Cup and will be key to their chances of beating Croatia in Sunday’s final.
In the last three Premier League campaigns, Kante has won more tackles and interceptions combined than any other player (738).
Adrien Rabiot, a French midfielder, 23 years old, playing at PSG, has been claimed to be Barcelona's midfielder target.
Sergio Busquets 1 goal 4 assists 2.8 tackles 1.6 interceptions Barcelona 60% possession Ivan Rakiic 1 goal 5 assists 1.5 tackles 1.3 interceptions N'golo Kante 1 goal 1 assist 3.3 tackles 2.5 interceptions Chelsea 54.4% possession Jorginho 2 goals 4assists 1.9 tackles 1.5 intercetions Napoli 60.3% possession Kante has higher defensive statistics with probably more opportunities for playing on a team with less ball possession. Otherwise, Kanre is not obviously an improvement on Busquets and Jorginho is not obviously one on Rakitic. Barcelona could add a right midfielder to play with Busquets, Coutinho and Rakitic.
How would Italian media know about a Spanish club? If you use the link to Gianluco Di Marzio above you will find no mention of a source for this story in the article. Below this article there is a headline under a picture of Dani Alves: Dani Alves blurts out: "I'm ashamed to be part of this world, the press is rubbish." Andre Gomes had no goal, no assist and no settled position as M(CLR) at Barcelona in only 6 starts and 10 subs. Is that enough to be a "makeweight'?.N'golo Kante and Jorginho are both called defensive midfielder center DMC on this website. Sergio Busquets is "DMC" also and Ivan Rakitic played 5 games as "DMC" while being called a M(C). Jorginho can play in the center with Kante at Chelsea or with Buquets at Barcelona in a 4 or 5 man midfield.