FC Barcelona has been offered a Paris Saint-Germain legend according to Mundo Deportivo.
FC Barcelona has been offered the chance to sign one of its former transfer targets and a Paris Saint-Germain legend this summer according to Mundo Deportivo, which cited anonymous sources.
Marco Verratti came close to joining the Catalans in 2017, but ultimately had a move blocked by the Ligue 1 giants’ Qatari Nasser Al-Khelaifi.
In 2023, the Italian was once more available and of interest to Barca only for Al-Khelaifi to get in the way again and instead sell him to Al-Arabi in his homeland.
A year down the line, though, Verratti has been directly offered to reigning La Liga champions according to Mundo Deportivo.
The paper explains that head coach Xavi Hernandez and his staff like Verratti, but he isn’t considered a “priority option” despite Barca seeking a strong reinforcement in his position.
Xavi has longed for a worthy successor to Sergio Busquets since the former captain decided to leave their boyhood club and join Inter Miami at the end of the last season.
The manager wanted Joshua Kimmich or Martin Zubimendi to fill the void, but Barca was priced out of a potential coup for either man because of its well-documented economic woes.
The same outlet reported that Xavi yet again demanded one of the two men as a condition for him to agree to see out his contract which expires in June 2025, in a u-turn development which was confirmed last week.
Furthermore, there are doubts about how competitive Verratti would be considering he is currently playing in the lower level Qatari league which Xavi knows well from his days at Al-Sadd.
At 31 years of age, Verratti could still have plenty of gas left in the tank.
Another concern, however, would be the playmakers salary demands – which were high at PSG and have continued to be so with Al-Arabi.
To return to the European elite, Verratti would have to lower his salary expectations and take a paycut in Catalonia.
In the Blaugrana first XI, he would battle for minutes with the likes of Frenkie de Jong and Ilkay Gundogan though Xavi finally having a high quality pivot would push that pair further up the pitch.
