With Barcelona scouring the market for a new defensive midfielder for the summer, a number of players like Amadou Onana, Joshua Kimmich, and Mats Wieffer, among others, have been mentioned as possible targets.
Now, it appears that another name has entered the picture, with Napoli midfielder Stanislav Lobotka’s agent sensationally claiming that Barcelona want the 29-year-old midfielder.
Indeed, speaking in an interview recently, Branislav Jarusek, the representative of Lobotka, revealed that Barça would sign the Napoli midfielder but a lot of things need to fall in place for that to happen.
“We talked about it with Deco, Barcelona would sign him, but a lot of things would have to happen first,” said the player’s agent, as quoted by Mundo Deportivo.
It must be noted that Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez spoke highly of Lobotka in the lead-up to the Catalans’ UEFA Champions League Round of 16 clash against Napoli.
When asked to name a Napoli player he would like to see at Barça, Xavi replied: “I would say Lobotka. I like him as a playmaker, he doesn’t lose any balls. I would like to see him at a club like Barça. He makes a lot of difference for Napoli.”
Jarusek went on to reveal that Xavi’s praise meant a lot Lobotka, with the player sharing the screenshot of the Barcelona manager’s comments with him.
“Stanislav sent me a screenshot of Xavi’s statements, I photographed him one of all the times we talked about him because Xavi asks me a lot of times about Lobotka,” he revealed.
Further hinting that Lobotka would be very open to joining Barcelona, Jarusek added: “He’s almost 30 years old, he doesn’t have many years left as a professional. He would like to play for a club that is fighting to win the Champions League.”
Lobotka, however, has a contract with Napoli that runs until the summer of 2027 with the Italian champions even retaining the option to extend it by another year.
The Partenopei president Aurelio De Laurentiis is known to demand a premium fee for his players and as such, any move for Napoli would be hard to pull off for Barcelona.
