Barcelona Plotting Defender Move

Football Talk will be keeping you up-to-date with all the latest transfer news throughout the summer. Today, Barcelona are linked with a raid on the Premier League.

Barcelona have short-listed three Premier League defenders in-case their move for Javi Martinez fails, according to the Mirror.

The report claims that new Barca boss Tito Vilanova wants to strengthen his back line this summer and has identified Athletic Bilbao defender Javi Martinez as his number one target.

However, there are fears within the Nou Camp that a move for Martinez, who can play at centre back as well as central midfield, could prove too expensive.

This has lead to Vilanova looking to the Premier League for alternatives, with Arsenal’s Thomas Vermaelen, Man City captain Vincent Kompany and Chelsea’s David Luiz all believed to be on his wish-list.

FT Verdict

To be honest, this is a slightly confusing piece of transfer news. Barca will turn to Vermaelen, Luiz or Kompany because they can’t afford Martinez? Well how much do they think these three will be available for? Because it’s not likely to be much less than Martinez, that’s for sure!

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Kompany and Vermaelen are two of the finest defenders in the Premier League and are both tied to long-term contracts with their clubs, so why would they be sold for anything less than Bilbao want for Martinez? And Chelsea paid a fortune for Luiz and won’t want to make a loss on him even if they did decide to sell, so again he won’t come cheap.

Therefore, we can’t see any of this trio ending up at Barcelona this summer.