Barcelona remain exploring and analyzing the situation of a variety of players in the transfer market in hopes that they can secure an attacking reinforcement before the new season.
Deco, Barcelona’s sporting director, had a meeting this week with Xavi Simons’ brother and an agent with knowledge about the player’s situation, SPORT explains. Simons could be living his final days as an RB Leipzig player, with a number of clubs in Europe, including Bayern Munich, interested in him.
The SPORT report signals that Simons would very much welcome the idea of returning to Barcelona. The Dutch international joined La Masia when he was 7-years-old and stayed there until he accepted an offer to move to Paris Saint-Germain when he reached the U-15 level.
During his time in Barcelona’s academy, he shared a dressing room at the youth level with players such as Alejandro Balde, Fermín López and Marc Casadó.
Simons has spent the past two seasons in the Bundesliga, tallying 21 goals and 23 assists in 76 appearances for Leipzing. At just 22 years of age, he’s once more garnering the attention of bigger clubs across the continent.
Given the interest he’s generating, his age and his profile, acquiring Simons on a permanent transfer would cost a hefty price. Because of this, there’s little hope of Barcelona seriously pushing to sign him given their well documented financial troubles.
Furthermore, Simons’ favored position as an attacking midfielder is one Barcelona already has covered. Hansi Flick believes Barcelona have more than enough pieces in midfield—perhaps even more than he’d want— making it even harder to envision a move for Simons.
What’s clear is that, despite the financial handicaps, Deco and the rest of Barcelona’s sporting structure are keeping tabs on a large pool of players hoping to bolster Flick’s squad. Whether something ends up materializing or not is still very much uncertain.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Barcelona ‘Hold Meeting’ To Enquire About Bundesliga Star With La Masia Past.
