Brighton star to skip obvious Arsenal, Chelsea next step as Barcelona director ‘proposes’ shock signing to Xavi

A Brighton ace could surprisingly end up going to Barcelona next, rather than signing for one of the Premier League’s biggest clubs, according to a report.

Brighton have developed several players into top-class Premier League stars before selling them on for big money. Notable examples include Ben White, Yves Bissouma, Marc Cucurella and Leandro Trossard.

Arsenal and Chelsea are two of the clubs who have used Brighton to improve their respective squads. Arsenal have captured White and Trossard from the Seagulls, while Cucurella went to Chelsea last summer and manager Graham Potter followed him to Stamford Bridge not long afterwards.

It must be noted Arsenal have benefitted far more from those Brighton raids than Chelsea. However, that is not Brighton’s fault as both Cucurella and Potter excelled at the Amex.

There could be more players leaving Brighton in big-money deals this summer. Moises Caicedo is expected to be the subject of a transfer battle involving Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool, while Manchester United and Tottenham have both set their sights on Evan Ferguson.

Alexis Mac Allister is the player who is most likely to depart the south coast, with Liverpool aiming to sign him after opting against a move for Jude Bellingham.

Kaoru Mitoma will almost certainly end up playing for one of Europe’s elite clubs at some point in the future, although Roberto De Zerbi has signalled his desire to keep the winger for another campaign.

The most obvious career trajectory for a Brighton player is to join one of England’s major clubs. And then, if they are good enough, they could move to one of the most iconic teams in the world, such as Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich.

Barcelona in for Brighton defender

But versatile defender Joel Veltman might skip that intermediate stage by heading straight to Barca. As per Football Espana, who cite reports coming out of Spain, Barca have surprisingly begun targeting Veltman for a summer move.

Xavi is not content with his current right-back options, which is why Barca have been linked with Diogo Dalot and Jeremie Frimpong previously. But senior Barca officials believe Veltman could be a good addition, as he can play at centre-half too.

Barca director of football Mateu Alemany, who will leave this summer and is close to joining Aston Villa, has ‘proposed’ Veltman’s signing to Xavi as his last job. Alemany likes the Dutchman’s profile and knows he will be fairly easy to sign, as his Brighton deal expires in the summer.

The Athletic recently revealed Brighton have an option to extend Veltman’s contract by 12 months, while they are also in talks with his agent over a longer deal. However, Barca will do all they can to scupper such plans and give the 31-year-old an exciting move to Spain.

Once Veltman receives both offers, he will have to decide whether he wants to stick at Brighton or challenge himself at Barca. Going to the Nou Camp may be a risk though as there is always the potential for Barca to replace him in the near future with an expensive right-back.

Meanwhile, Brighton are trying to ‘burn’ competition from Man Utd and Juventus by signing an Italy star first, according to reports.