Today’s Spanish papers report that Barcelona are interested in signing AC Milan wantaway striker Carlos Bacca.
In additions to this, sources have exclusively told calciomercato.com that the blaugrana’s interest for the former Sevilla man is concrete though the Rossoneri have yet to receive a formal offer that, however, could be formalized before the end of the week.
Bacca has put negotiations with West Ham on hold. AC Milan have accepted the Hammers’ € 30 million bid, but the striker has yet to say yes to the East London club despite Bilic has matched the player’s salary requests.
Why? Bacca wants to play Champions League football next season and is waiting for the offer of a club that play Europe’s elite tournament next season.
Napoli could make a bid if they’d fail to sign Mauro Icardi, but, meantime, Barcelona have entered the race.
CM.com’s pundit Federico Albrizio has exclusively learned that Barcelona are open to match Bacca’s €30million price tag and could make a formal offer in the next few days. The destinies of Bacca and Luciano Vietto, however, are strictly connected.
The Atletico Madrid ace is Luis Enrique’s priority target for the attack (Barcelona need a back-up to Luis Suarez). The Nou Camp outfit have already found agreement with the Colchoneros (€22million), but the player is still considering the offer of Barcelona.
Plus, Sevilla have also made contact with Atletico Madrid and could make a cash offer plus Gameiro who is a long time target of Diego Simeone.
Circumstances given, Barcelona could miss out on Luciano Vietto and their number two option would become Carlos Bacca who knows the Spanish league very well and could have a concrete chance to play and win the Champions League next season (even if as a bit-player).
AC Milan want cash only, but they could accept to include Christian Tello or Aleix Vidal in a player-plus cash swap deal. It could be more difficult to include Arda Turan as the Turkey International’s market value is more than 30million. Bacca would even accept less than €4.5million a year which is the salary offered by West Ham.
Federico Albrizio @Albri_Fede90, translated by Lorenzo Bettoni @lorebetto, via calciomercato.com
