- Barcelona Move For American Prodigy Collapsed After Mateu Alemany’s Exit.
It is no secret that Barcelona had shown an interest in signing Uruguayan midfield starlet Fabricio Diaz over the past few months.
The 20-year-old had established himself as one of the most exciting young talents in South America after his explosive performances in the U-20 South American Championship with Uruguay, before he led them to the FIFA U-20 World Cup triumph.
Barcelona had held talks with Diaz’s camp in the summer, but FFP issues meant that a move was postponed. But before they could make their move, the 20-year-old is set to sign for Qatari outfit Al Gharafa in a shock move.
Mateu Alemany’s exit proved detrimental
Now, Fabrizio Romano has come up with an update providing an insight into Barcelona’s pursuit of Diaz and how things fell apart.
As mentioned previously, Romano confirms that Barcelona had held several talks about a move for the 20-year-old midfielder.
Indeed, as per the Italian, the club had held several meetings with the youngster about a move, but everything ended up collapsing following the departure of Mateu Alemany.
Romano claims that it was Alemany who was pushing hard for Barça to sign Diaz from Liverpool Montevideo.
However, with Deco assuming power as the new sporting director and Alemany stepping away at the end of the summer transfer window, talks broke down, eventually paving the way for Diaz to sign for Al Gharafa in a deal worth just €5.6 million.
Barcelona have their eyes on other young talents
While Diaz might have slipped out, Barcelona are tracking several other young talents who can reinforce the pivot position.
Gabriel Moscardo of Corinthians is on the agenda, with an enquiry made for him already.
Meanwhile, in Europe, Barça are scouting Royal Antwerp’s Arthur Vermeeren extensively while they also have their eyes on Portuguese starlets Joao Neves and Dario Essugo as well.
But with the salary cap limitations, it is unlikely that any player would be arriving during the January window.
