Barcelona have taken their search for a new defensive midfielder into Uruguay, where they are scouting 20-year-old Fabricio Diaz. Currently playing for Liverpool Montevideo, he has the attention of several top teams in the world.
Barcelona are one of the parties interested in Diaz’s services ahead of next season, but are rivaled by a fair few teams in their pursuit, including Villarreal, River Plate, Flamengo, and Girona.
The player is priced at around €8 million, but apparently does not want to leave South America immediately. He prefers to stay there for at least another season before re-evaluating his decision about Europe.
Today, however, it was confirmed by Gerard Romero that Barcelona officials Jordi Cruyff and Mateu Alemany met with Diaz’s agent today. The player is expected to leave Uruguay after the U-20 World Cup, which ends in June.
Barcelona evidently want to move quickly to pursuit Diaz as they have missed out on several top talents from South America in the last few seasons, including Julian Alvarez, Enzo Fernandez, and most recently Endrick, who has joined Real Madrid.
Further, they still have little to no clue about Sergio Busquets’ future, who has been offered a new deal by the club. Should he decide not to continue and leave as a free agent, Barça will have to sort out a replacement in the summer.
They are looking at the likes of Ruben Neves, Martin Zubimendi, and Sofyan Amrabat as potential replacements, but all of them carry a rather hefty price tag for a summer move.
However, any move for any player, including Diaz will depend largely on their ability to reduce the wage bill, which has been exceeded by over €200 million.
