Barcelona have entered the race to sign Kai Havertz and are willing to offer up several fringe players in order to sweeten the deal.
The Bayer Leverkusen midfielder is one of the most highly sought after prospects in world football after impressing over the last few Bundesliga seasons. Overall, the 20-year-old has made 139 appearances for his boyhood club and racked up 68 direct goal involvements.
Havertz has been linked with a host of top European clubs over the past year with Liverpool and Manchester City both touted as potential destinations. Barcelona have also been tracking the player for some time and according to Sport they have now stepped up their efforts to bring him to Camp Nou in the summer.
The report states that Barça would be willing to include Emerson, Carles Aleñá or Marc Cucurella as a makeweight in a potential deal. Bayer are likely to demand around €100m (£88.5m) for Havertz’s services and sweetening the pot with one of these players would decrease their asking price dramatically.
All three players have spent the campaign away from Barcelona on loan, with Emerson and Aleñá gaining experience at Real Betis, while Cucurella has impressed at Getafe.
Regardless of whether a deal can be struck, it seems unlikely that Havertz will be playing his football for Peter Bosz’s side next season. Last month, the dynamic midfielder, who has scored once in seven appearances for Germany, issued a come and get me plea, stating that he was “ready to take a big step” in his career.
The youngster will return to on-field action next Monday when Bayer travel to Werder Bremen as the Bundesliga returns after its enforced break. The fixture rounds off an exciting gameweek which kicks off with the Revierderby between Schalke and Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.
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