According to reports, Barcelona sent scouts to attend Bayer Leverkusen’s match with Wolfsburg at the weekend to watch three of the Bundesliga side highly-rated young stars.
The Catalan giants are interested in bringing in new bloods to Camp Nou and, of course, have cash to burn following the world record sale of Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain over the summer.
As reported by Sport, Robert Fernandez and Urbano Ortega were spotted in attendance at BayArena to watch Jonathan Tah, Julian Brandt and Leon Bailey.
21-year-old Tah, is widely regarded as one of the best young defenders in German football, and he would be a fantastic option for a team with two ageing centre-halves in Gerard Pique and Javier Mascherano.
Tah, who is a powerful centre back, is said to have a buyout clause of around £22million, with a number of Premier League clubs interested in his signature.
Brandt, also 21-year-old, is a pacy winger who can operate anywhere across a front line and has brilliant technical ability that has helped him earn 12 appearances for Germany, and Jamaican star Bailey is another winger with blistering pace.
The 20-year-old was caught the attention of Premier League sides Manchester United and Chelsea in the past, before eventually joining Leverkusen from Genk for €20m.
It is Brandt, however, who is believed to be Barca’s most important target, although he is likely to cost over £26.5m with the German club reluctant to sell.
The report according to Sport also suggest that Barca gave serious consideration to signing Leverkusen’s Benjamin Heinrichs as a replacement for Dani Alves last summer.
In the end, Barca sealed a deal for Benfica right back Nelson Semedo, bringing him to the Nou Camp for £30m.
Ernesto Valverde’s side have started off the new campaign brilliantly, winning seven out of eight La Liga fixtures, but the results is that they will still need to invest in more quality if they are to steal the title away from Real Madrid.