Tottenham are one Barcelona transfer link away from a complete XI.
Especially since reports of their interest in Tanguy Ndombele emerged from Sky Sports, Barca player after Barca player has been touted to Spurs.
Mundo Deportivo reported last week that we were interested in signing Ivan Rakitic, along with the likes of Sevilla, Atletico Madrid and Juventus.
The same Spanish outlet has now gone one step further to describe us as the “frontrunner” to sign the 106-cap Croatian international, who is expected to leave the Camp Nou this summer as he enter the final year of his contract.
However, Mundo Deportivo’s bad news brother has outlined the finances behind a potential deal, which make him joining Spurs very unlikely.
Estadio Deportivo understands that Barcelona would not accept a transfer fee under €15m (£13.31m), and that Rakitic would not be willing to take a pay cut on his annual salary of €7.8m (£6.92m) – around £133,000 a week.
That would be a world-record fee for a 32-year-old, matching the £15m that we spent on Fernando Llorente in 2017, according to talkSPORT. Llorente was an emergency purchase whereas Rakitic would be a luxury one.
And in the Covid-19 climate, making Rakitic our fourth-highest earner, according to figures in The Mirror, would be senseless considering the amount of money already invested or tied into his central midfield position.
This ain’t a goer. Let’s focus on our nine other Barcelona targets.
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