Barcelona are set to step up their interest in Brazilian right-back Fabinho whether Dani Alves remains with the club or not this summer.
The 21-year-old has been on loan at Monaco from Portuguese outfit Rio Ave since July 2013 and Ariedo Braida, who oversees Barca’s technical committee in charge of bringing in new players, has already travelled to the Principality to watch him in action.
According to Mundo Deportivo, the youngster was recommended to the Catalans by former Barcelona midfielder Deco and Braida has been tracking him since he first emerged as a teenager in Brazil.
Curiously enough, Fabinho spent a year on a season-long loan with Real Madrid Castilla in the 2012-13 campaign and went on to make his first-team debut for Los Blancos when he came on as a substitute in a 6-2 victory over Malaga.
Fabinho is a Brazil Under-20 international and has been interesting a number of Europe’s top clubs, although a prohibitive price of around €30m may dissuade many of them from making a concrete offer for his services.
