Barcelona are set to intensify heir interest in Southampton full back Cedric Soares, according to a report in the British press.
The Sun says:
BARCELONA are set to step up their surprise interest in Southampton’s Cedric Soares.
The Portuguese right-back has been solid for Claude Puel yet would cost a staggering £25million – FIVE times the amount they paid for him.
The 5ft 8in right back who was actually born in Singel, Germany, played for Portugal at every youth level before graduating to the senior side in 2014. He nailed down his place in the side and has since played 16 times for his country, including in their surprise European Championship victory over hosts France in Paris at EURO 2016.
The pacy 25-year-old wide man had a fairly average time at club level in Portugal but played a steady 30 games per season for the three campaigns prior to his move to England.
In 2015 he was plucked from that side by Ronald Koeman for £4.7m and became a Steady Eddy in the Southampton side, playing 27 games in his first season and 16 in this campaign.
He’s not the first player who you would associate with a big move to Barcelona and there may be no substance to the tale. But he does tick many of the boxes for a modern defensive wide man.
Soares is a solid defender with good reading of the game. But he also loves to get forward and has the pace and lung capacity to glide up and down the wing for the whole 90 minutes with apparent ease.
Barcelona will be parting company with manager Luis Enrique at the end of this season and with Lionel Messi reaching veteran status there is a feeling of revolution in the air at the Camp Nou.
Barcelona fans: a decent potential addition?