The news that Barcelona and Internazionale had reached a deal for Jordi Alba broke on Wednesday night, much to the surprise of many. Not least Alba himself.
The Nerazzurri reached an agreement with Barcelona for a loan deal this season, which would have seen the Italian side paying 40% of his wages.
However according to Cadena Cope, Jordi Alba has no intention of agreeing to that deal. The player was taken by surprise when he became aware of the agreement and at no point has he considered leaving this summer.
💥 Informa @HelenaCondis
✅ @JordiAlba era una opción real del @Inter si su lateral izquierdo, Gosens, salía al @bayer04fussball
📍 Fuentes cercanas de su entorno aseguran que su voluntad es quedarse en el @FCBarcelona
📻 #PartidazoCOPE pic.twitter.com/E9dObI09iy
— El Partidazo de COPE (@partidazocope) August 31, 2022
It does leave Barcelona with something of a surplus at left-back, if Marcos Alonso does end up arriving from Chelsea. Alba has been benched for the previous two games in a row for youngster Alejandro Balde. Manager Xavi Hernandez did imply that he might consider using Balde as an option further up the pitch last weekend during a press conference. During those matches against Real Sociedad and Real Valladolid, Balde has been given extra freedom to go forward, even providing an assist for Robert Lewandowski in the process.
let jordi alba stay