Manchester United is plotting to offer Anthony Martial to Barcelona in place for Ivan Rakitic during the next transfer window in January.
United’s boss, Jose Mourinho, has shown keen interest in Barca’s Sergio Roberto but news of Rakitic’s availability has swayed his attention. With Barcelona showing interest in Anthony Martial, the two clubs look prepared for a swap deal come January.
Martial appears to be out of place on Mourinho’s plan following the emergence of Rashford, top scoring Romelu Lukaku and the inevitable return of Zlatan Ibrahimovic to the squad.
In the meantime, Barcelona has shown readiness to renew bid for Liverpool’s forward, Philippe Coutinho, in the January transfer window, Chief Executive Oscar Grau confirmed.
“We are prepared to sign Coutinho or any other player we want in January,” Grau told a press conference.
“Our aim is to have the most competitive squad possible and yes, we will look into signing players, even if no players leave the club – we want to give the fans the best team we possibly can.
“We will remain sustainable; we must continue to seek ways and opportunities to generate income and not to have any losses.
“We are presenting figures now which are higher than any other club in the world, even compared to NBA or the NFL, they cannot match these numbers.
“We are on target for with our financial goals and the budget is based on the trajectory of us continuing in La Liga. My belief is Barcelona and La Liga must be hand in hand.”
The La Liga giants had three of their bids rejected by Liverpool during the summer transfer. Coutinho however handled a transfer request but no agreement was reached.
Barcelona looks forward to boost their attack and find a perfect replacement for Neymar to combine with the Messi and Suarez attacking force. New signee Ousmanne Dembele who was brought in from Borussia Dortmund is out with injury till next year.
Barcelona currently top the La Liga having maintained a 100 per cent run.
