Juventus are reportedly ready to take €25m out of their coffer to sign Barcelona utility star Alcántara Rafinha this summer as the Italians look to improve the quality of their play next season, according to reports made by Gazzetta dello Sport in Italy. Any transfer would see Rafinha, who has been making do with fringe opportunities whenever available, follow in his brother Thiago’s footsteps
Thiago secured a move to Bayern Munich back in 2013 after not getting regular playing time at Camp Nou and has witness his career thrive after recovering from a serious knee injury that kept him out for a while in the early days of his career in Germany.
For Barca, the rumored interest would be welcome development. There were words on the grapevine as of recent that the Catalans were only allocated €25m to spend in the transfer market this summer. This leaves the Catalans with the only available option of raising funds through the sale of some dispensable players for the much needed overhauling of the squad.
Releasing Rafinha for €25m would automatically increase the transfer Budget in double fold. Getting rid of the incompetent Andres Gomes would also make Barcelona more buoyant financially, while Jeremy Mathieu and Arda Turan are likely to be moving out of the club this summer.
It increasingly looks like Barca will not be needing the funds from Liverpool to sign Philippe Coutinho, though the Brazilian have been said to be attached with a price tag of €90m, but that has been followed by claims by Messi biography author Guillem Balague that Barca have no interest in Coutinho.
“His entourage is clearly working to move him to the Nou Camp. There are different reasons why Barca will not go for him,” Balague told Sky Sports on Tuesday.
“One is the cost and the other is they think he’s a forward rather than a midfielder. And of course they are completely sorted in attack.
“They are looking for a different type of midfielder. Nobody doubts Coutinho’s quality but Barcelona don’t have the money to be getting three or four top players for their first-choice line-up.”
Their interest in more conventional Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Marco Verratti has not gone beyond the interest level.