Director picks out Chelsea star to sign – Travels to England, big impacted expected

Barcelona are looking to follow the ‘Raphinha model’ to sign João Pedro from Chelsea this summer.

Sport report that the Brazilian striker is competing with Julián Álvarez to become Barcelona’s new number nine in the summer transfer window.

Deco likes Chelsea star

The newspaper explains that Barcelona sporting director Deco is a big fan of Premier League players.

Having played in England himself, he believes that the ‘intensity, speed of execution and physical demands’ makes players that add positive factors to Barcelona’s squad.

That’s particularly the case because Barcelona’s squad is relatively young, with constant additions from La Masia as well.

The Barcelona director makes frequent trips to England to evaluate players. As an agent, he brought Raphinha to the Camp Nou. He also attempted to sign Luis Díaz, who has been phenomenal at Bayern Munich this season.

Chelsea star João Pedro is the latest name in England that he admires. In fact, he likes him so much that he is in the top two of striker put on a shortlist to reinforce Barcelona’s number nine position this summer.

The Chelsea forward is valued for more than his prowess on the pitch. He is also considered young at 24-years-old, with great potential for growth as he’s ‘not yet reached his peak or footballing maturity’.

Raphinha comparisons

In this sense, Barcelona are looking at what happened with Raphinha. He arrived from Leeds as an incomplete package and has since blossomed under Hansi Flick. Last season he was in contention for the Ballon d’Or.

The feeling is that João Pedro is a similar profile and, crucially, is ‘a hidden gem in the media’. Barcelona could, therefore, offer him a global status and the room to grow even further.

Any deal would not be a cheap one, of course. Chelsea paid Brighton €63.7m last summer and he’s now valued at €75m. Sport make no mention of Barcelona’s stance on that front.

But it appears that Deco is keen on the striker, nonetheless. And Raphinha’s success is potentially driving that interest further.