Barcelona want to sign a new central defender and are monitoring Inter duo Stefan de Vrij (pictured) and Milan Skriniar, report Calciomercato.
It follows on from a report in Calciomercato earlier this month which claimed the Blaugrana had already seen two approaches for de Vrij rejected.
The attempts to land the Dutch international have both come in the last two years, according to Fabrizio Romano, with the first attempt whenever the defender’s contract at Lazio expired in the summer of 2018.
However, on that occasion the now 27-year-old decided instead to join the Milanese giants, but it did not put off the Blaugrana returning with a fresh attempt this summer.
It is claimed that preliminary talks were even held between the parties and the Catalan club were preparing to put together a €50m package to land the defender.
However, despite receiving the green light from Barca boss Ernesto Valverde, no bid was ever made due to Inter’s stance of refusing to sell their prized asset, with new Coach Antonio Conte reportedly a big fan.
Barcelona have Gerard Pique, Samuel Umtiti and Clement Lenglet among their list of central defenders, however Umtiti’s persistent injury problems are said to be the catalyst for the search for a replacement.
