Barcelona are on the hunt for a midfielder this January in order to plug the gap left by Sergio Busquets, although they have compared the profile they are looking for to Gavi, after he was ruled out for the rest of the season. One of the players on their radar is 22-year-old Brazilian midfielder Andre.
He has been plying his trade for Fluminense, and was a key part of their Copa Libertadores victory over Boca Juniors in the final recently. He has also publicly declared both Real Madrid and Barcelona great clubs, but ‘if I had to choose, it’d be Barcelona’, which will no doubt endear him to Culers.
Andre has been heavily linked with a move to Fulham of late, and was on the verge of joining Liverpool in the summer. Sport say that Deco has been keeping close tabs on him as a potential option for next summer. His price tag is believed to be set at around €30m, although Fluminense will want to wrap up a deal sooner rather than later, with just a year left on his deal.
Sport say that he could be an option for Barcelona this winter though. If the Blaugrana were to settle on him as the midfielder they wanted, they could look at a loan deal with an agreement to buy in the summer.
It may not be that simple to circumvent the salary limit rules though. If a deal is a loan with an obligatory buy clause, then La Liga generally calculate the impact as simply a permanent deal with an extra year. On the other hand, Flumninense will want to ensure they have some security in the deal, and an option to buy is unlikely to put their minds to rest. It would likely require a leap of their faith to do the deal, while Barcelona will not and cannot get into an auction with Fulham and Liverpool.
