Barcelona have made no secret of their desire to sign a new defensive midfielder ahead of the new season after Sergio Busquets decided to leave Camp Nou in the coming summer.
According to Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona still have Joshua Kimmich in their crosshairs, but the club admit it is going to be a difficult operation. They are aware of the fact that convincing Bayern Munich to sell their star man will be tricky.
Bayern, in fact, have no intention to offload their star midfielder. He is considered to be a vital part of Thomas Tuchel’s project and may eventually take on the leadership mantle after Thomas Muller and Manuel Neuer retire.
Barcelona’s pursuit of Kimmich has been compared to the Robert Lewandowski operation last year. But the Kimmich situation is far more complicated.
For one, the midfielder still has two years left on his contract, unlike Lewandowski, who had only a year left on his contract. Unlike the Pole, Kimmich has also yet to make any noise about his desire to leave the Allianz Arena. He won’t make any efforts to force himself out of Bayern.
Barcelona, therefore, must negotiate with the German giants if they are to sign Kimmich this summer. But that is going to be even trickier, with the Bavarians likely to make life difficult for their Catalan counterpart.
For this reason, Barcelona have admitted they might not get their hands on Kimmich this summer. But the club have no shortage of options in the market and have identified Martin Zubimendi as the other top target in the midfield department.
The Spaniard won’t come cheap and may cost up to €60 million. Real Sociedad, though, are interested in a few of Barcelona’s youngsters, which raises the possibility of a swap deal taking place between the two clubs.
