Liverpool, Man Utd move threatened by Barcelona who are convinced thrilling forward wants one of two things
Barcelona are plotting an eye-catching response to a huge Real Madrid coup by signing a Germany international Liverpool, Man Utd and now Chelsea have all been linked with, per a report.
Real Madrid have verbally agreed to sign Brazilian football’s next big thing. Fabrizio Romano reported Los Blancos will pay ‘€60m to Palmeiras plus €12m [in] taxes’ to sign 16-year-old wonderkid, Endrick.
The youngster is already playing senior first-team football for Palmeiras in an indication of how quickly he’s developing.
However, current regulations prevent an overseas side from signing Brazil-based players under the age of 18. As such, if the move becomes official, Real will have to wait until 2024 before seeing Endrick in white.
Predictably, Barcelona are keen to respond to Real’s impending coup. Per ESPN, they aim to do so by moving for Liverpool, Man Utd and Chelsea target, Youssoufa Moukoko.
The Borussia Dortmund stand-out is only 18, yet has already surpassed the 50-appearance mark for the Bundesliga side. He’s also earned two senior caps for Germany and along with Jamal Musiala, is among the country’s great hopes for the future after another World Cup failure.
Moukoko is in the final year of his deal at Dortmund and has been heavily linked with a move to England.
Liverpool and Man Utd have drawn the strongest links, with Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund connections previously tipped to serve the Reds well.
However, ESPN (citing Spanish outlet Diario Sport), report Barcelona believe Moukoko will choose them if he does leave Germany.
Playing time key to Moukoko decision?
It’s claimed ‘The Blaugrana understand that Moukoko wants to either renew his contract to stay with Dortmund or head toward Camp Nou’.
The last part reportedly comes with a caveat – guarantees over playing time.
A forward line that contains Robert Lewandowski up front and plenty of elite wingers on the flanks such as Raphinha and Ousmane Dembele won’t concede regular minutes to Moukoko easily.
However, it can also be argued neither Liverpool or Man Utd would be able to guarantee Moukoko sizeable and immediate minutes if signed in 2023 either.
Chelsea are named in the report as following Moukoko’s situation too. The Blues have made an effort to invest in their future since Todd Boehly and his Clearlake partners took charge.
They splashed out around £41m on teenage trio Gabriel Slonina, Carney Chukwuemeka and Cesare Casadei last summer.
Moukoko would represent an excellent addition for any of the interest Premier League sides, especially if signed for nothing upon expiry of his contract next summer.
However, if the Spanish report is accurate, Barcelona believe Moukoko will choose them if he does leave Dortmund.
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