La Liga

Barcelona: Xavi identifies replacement for Frenkie de Jong in Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal teammate

As of now, Barcelona's attention is focused mostly on the chase of Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha. However, signing a midfielderlooks to be on their 'to-do' list as well, and the player plays with Cristiano Ronaldo in Portugal's national team.

Frenkie de Jong of Barcelona
© Mark Kolbe/Getty ImagesFrenkie de Jong of Barcelona

Barcelonahave begun their pre-season preparations ahead of this summer’s transfer market by aiming to bring in new players. In the summer of last year, the Catalans suffered greatly because of their financial difficulties and even lostLionel Messi.

Keeping the Blaugrana from repeating last year’s mistake is vital.In order for Barça to acquire new players, they must first get rid of its undesired stars. Earlier this month, they approved the transfer of Philippe Coutinho to Aston Villa for €20 million in cash.

Xavi Hernandez has identified a number of other players in the team who he believes are surplus to requirements. Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha are the Blaugrana’smain priorities at the moment. However, it looks that Ruben Neves of Wolverhampton is also a target for the team to replace Manchester United-bound Frenkie de Jong.

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Barcelona to offer three players for Ruben Neves

Ruben Neves of Wolverhampton. (David Rogers/Getty Images)

Ruben Neves of Wolverhampton. (David Rogers/Getty Images)

Ruben Neves has piqued the interest of Barcelona, who consider him as a long-term successor to Frenkie de Jong, who looks set to leave Spain during the upcoming summer transfer window.For the next season of 2022-23, the Portuguese acemay be ready to move on from Molineux after spending five years there.

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Wolves would reportedly be willing to let their the 25-year-old midfielder go in the summer, but they want a high price. As a result of the fact that the Catalan outfit arein the middle of an economiccrisis, they may be unable to spend large sums of money on new players. This might be troublesome for them.

As a cost-cutting measure, Xavi Hernandez‘s sideare anticipated to give Wolves several of their peripheral players, as per English outletBirmingham Mail, as well as ESPN.Since they have done business together before, notably with the likes of Nelson Semedo and Francisco Trincao, the two sides have a good working connection.

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The Blaugrana’ssuggestions would be welcomed by the Englishmen once again, so long as they arere reasonable. Wolves coach Bruno Lage already has his eye on three players he hopes to bring to the squad next season, including the likes ofRiqui Puig, Nico, and Oscar Mingueza, who are notpart of Xavi’s plans anymore.

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