Barcelona president Joan Laporta has confirmed that the Spanish giants are in talks to sign Newcastle United target Arda Guler.
It had previously been reported that we had met with the Fenerbahce star’s representatives in Dubai in the last few weeks regarding a potential move for the teenage sensation.
Guler is a target for a number of European clubs after a breakout season in Turkey and Laporta is claiming that Deco – Barcelona’s former player and current sporting director – was in Istanbul on Thursday to try and complete a deal for the youngster with a €17.5 m release clause in his contract.
Last night, Laporta said: “Deco is now working on Arda Güler. “Today (Thursday) he was in Istanbul. La Liga allows us to carry out operations for next season without impacting ‘fair play’. Arda Güler is a very talented player and we are trying to close the operation. Our scouting department was following Arda. We also have Deco’s opinion. We are trying to complete the deal for next year.”
The 18-year-old recently scored his first goal for the Turkish national team in the European qualifiers and is said to be one of the most exciting prospects to come out of the country in recent years.
From Newcastle’s perspective, it was always going to be difficult to persuade the wonderkid to join Tyneside over any other club. Time will tell if we’re still in with a shout, but it seems Barcelona are pushing hard to sign the Super Lig star.
