Barca set deadline to buy Bellerin from ‘selling club’ Arsenal

Barcelona have reportedly set themselves a deadline by which to conclude a deal for Hector Bellerin after the Catalan media labelled Arsenal a ‘selling club’.

New Barca boss Ernesto Valverde has identified Bellerin as one of the club’s top targets this summer, with the La Liga giants still trying to adequately replace Dani Alves, who left the club in the summer of 2016.

Sergi Roberto was the preferred option under former boss Luis Enrique last season, with Aleix Vidal featuring 12 times – but former Barcelona academy star Bellerin is considered an upgrade on both.

And amid reports Barcelona have submitted a £40million offer to Arsenal for Bellerin, Catalan newspaper Mundo Deportivo state confidently on Tuesday that Bellerin ‘wants to sign for Barca’, and is ‘crazy’ about returning to the club.

Furthermore, and this is the loose translation here, they claim if he does not get his wish, he ‘will have a terrible disgust’.

The outlet goes on to claim that Barca have ‘set a deadline’ for the deal, and will move onto other targets if they can make no progress with Bellerin in the next 10 days.

Barca are said to be ‘surprised’ at Arsenal’s stance over Bellerin, with the Gunners refusing to even contemplate the sale of one of their star players.

But with the paper going to claim that Barcelona apparently consider Arsenal ‘an eminently selling entity’ (a ‘selling club’) – with the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Alex Song, Thomas Vermaelen, Alexander Hleb and Thierry Henry all making the move from north London to Nou Camp in recent years – they expect a deal to be concluded soon.