Barcelona close to agreeing summer deal to land Chelsea star

Willian

Barcelona are close to reportedly agreeing a deal to bring Willian to the Camp Nou once his contract at Chelsea expires this summer.

Frank Lampard’s men are thought to have tried to renew the Brazilian attacker’s deal, which ends on June 30, but the 31-year-old wants a change of scene.

Barca have been showing an interest in the forward for some time and have met with his representatives on several occasions to reach an agreement.

Indeed, the Catalan giants came close to signing the veteran star in the summer of 2018, but a £50million transfer failed to materialise.

Willian is represented by the same agency, Sport Invest, as Philippe Coutinho and could join his compatriot at the Camp Nou next season.

For their part, Chelsea know Willian will be leaving the club in the summer, but they refused to let him leave in January because of the shortage of players in Frank Lampard ‘s current senior squad.

Meanwhile, Lampard has expressed his delight that his side scored two set-pieces in their 2-2 draw with Leicester on Saturday.

Antonio Rudiger got both goals through headers – the first to put the Blues in front at the start of the second half and the second to rescue the visitors a point after the Foxes had made it 2-1.

 

After an even first half, Rudiger’s first goal saw the game brought to life before Ben Chilwell and Harvey Barnes put Leicester in front, ahead of Rudiger’s equaliser.

Speaking to BT Sport after the game, Lampard said: “[The goals were] nice because we want to score more goals from set-pieces – it’s something we work on a lot.

“And to get two through Toni was great because in a game like this when you know you’re against top quality, goals like that get you in the lead and then get you back level.” Read more…