Barcelona are eyeing another summer transfer revolution with five Manchester City players on their radar.
The Catalan giants are seven points clear at the top of La Liga and they are on course for their first league title in four years. That followed a summer of heavy investment which saw striker Robert Lewandowski lead a long line of big-name arrivals, including Jules Kounde and Raphinha.
This summer, Barca are hoping to bolster their squad further and are set to return to a familiar club, having signed Sergio Aguero, Eric Garcia and Ferran Torres from Premier League champions City in recent seasons.
A report from Catalan-based Sport suggests that five members of City’s squad are being monitored by Barca, who are considering another overhaul of their squad. Boss Xavi believes that more arrivals are required if Barca are to become a true force on the European stage once more.
The club meekly exited the Champions League group stage with a full round of matches remaining after picking up just one point across four fixtures against Bayern Munich and Inter Milan, before losing their Europa League play-off against Manchester United in February.
It is claimed that Xavi is keen for Barca to follow up their long running interest in star City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan. As outlined by reports in Spain, Barca have held a meeting with Ilhan Gundogan, the uncle and representative of the City midfielder.
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The German international is said to be a key transfer target for the Catalan club this summer as they seek to replace the long-serving Sergio Busquets, who is out of contract this summer.
Gundogan has spent the past seven seasons at City and his uncle is said to have held a meeting last month with a Barca delegation including sporting director Mateu Alemany, Jordi Cruyff, Enric Masip and Franc Carb.
Barca are also monitoring the situations of Spain internationals Aymeric Laporte – who has started just six Premier League games this season – and holding-midfielder Rodri, who is viewed as a long-term successor to Busquets at club and international level.
The report has also linked the club to midfielder Bernardo Silva - who was monitored last transfer window in the event that Frenkie de Jong left the club – alongside striker Julian Alvarez, who joined City last summer but who has started just six league games for Pep Guardiola’s side.
However, big-name arrivals at the Camp Nou are unlikely without exits first. As reported in December by Sport, the Catalan club need to reduce their salary outgoings of €600million to €400m for next season in order to register new players and any new contracts.
