Barcelona have identified Chelsea‘s João Pedro as one of the striker targets for the summer.
On May 6th, Sport Witness covered claims from Spain of the La Liga winners’ big interest in the striker.
Last week, Barcelona sporting director Deco refused to rule out a move for the Chelsea player or Atlético Madrid’s Julián Alvarez. He also talked about the need to improve his side’s attack, after Robert Lewandowski’s exit.
He said: “It’s not about profile. We’re not ruling anyone out, nor are we signing anyone.”
“These [fair play] are internal matters. What we have to guarantee is that we’ll work as we do every year. We’ve lost a very important player like Robert, and of course we’re going to try to strengthen the team.”
Deco making efforts to sign Chelsea man
Jijantes FC took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to report the Barcelona director making a trip to London ‘to advance’ João Pedro’s signing.
Deco, along with his assistant Bojan Krkić and Barcelona scout João Amaral, travelled to England.
Mundo Deportivo relay that and add that reliable sources have informed them of the director’s trip to England, ‘to advance’ the deal for the 24-year-old.
Earlier this month, Deco met the Brazil international’s agent in London and watched him live in the Blues’ FA Cup final defeat to Manchester City at Wembley.
Julián Álvarez is also on the Blaugrana’s agenda and Los Rojiblancos are standing in their way to secure his services.
Last week, we relayed news the Chelsea man shouldn’t cost more than €100m, after his omission from the World Cup squad.
That’s the figure Barcelona have set for a new striker. Mundo state Barca seem optimistic of signing Pedro for €70m even though the Blues insists he’s not for sale.
The track leading to Álvarez remains complicated. That won’t change until he pushes for a Barcelona move and force Atlético to negotiate with them.
Until then*,* the newspaper state: ‘Barca wants to continue making progress on João Pedro today in London. Everything is still open.’
Barcelona’s estimation misplaced
João Pedro managed 20 goals and nine assists from 50 matches for Chelsea this season.
Mundo claim Hansi Flick’s side estimate Pedro’s price to be around €70m. That may not be the case, considering Chelsea are in a comfortable position to deal with his case.
The Brazilian has a contract until 2033, and Transfermarkt value him at €75m. The Blues will certainly demand a fee higher than that, should they change their stance and let him leave.