Barcelona midfielder Arda Turan could be sold to Borussia Dortmund to make way for Valencia’s Portuguese star Andre Gomes to join the Catalan giants.
Since joining the Blaugrana in the summer of 2015, things haven’t gone exactly as planned for the former Atletico Madrid hero. His big money move came during Barcelona’s transfer ban, meaning that the 29-year-old would only be allowed to play from January 2016. He made his debut on the 6th of January against Espanyol, and his performance showed promise.
But since then, he has failed to justify his €34 million price tag over the course of half the season. He made 25 appearances across all competitions this season, mostly from the bench, scoring 2 goals and providing 4 assists in the process. His inability to adapt to Barcelona’s philosophy became clearer by the day, and there was no way he would be able to replace Iniesta, Rakitic or Busquets. So it is no surprise that Barcelona might choose to offload Turan to make way for Andre Gomes.
According to a report from SPORT, Barcelona are willing to ‘cut their losses’ and let Turan leave for around €30 million. The Spanish publication cites German sources to say that German giants Borussia Dortmund are eyeing the former Galatasaray captain and see him as the replacement to Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who has left to join Jose Mourinho at Manchester United for a fee reported to be worth around €42 million.
Die Borussen and the Blaugrana have already done business together earlier this summer after Marc Bartra moved to the Westfalenstadion from the Nou Camp in a deal worth €8 million. There is no shortage of funds at Dortmund, with Mat Hummels and Ilkay Gundogan also making big money moves away to Bayern Munich and Manchester City respectively, so they can easily match Barcelona’s asking price for Turan.
This would make it easier for Barcelona to fund a move for Valencia’s Andre Gomes. The Portuguese midfielder has been a subject of interest from clubs such as Manchester United, Juventus, and Real Madrid. Valencia were also reported to have rejected a £32 million bid for the 22-year-old from Chelsea. Barcelona are looking to add depth to their midfield ranks in order to provide the likes of Andres Iniesta and Ivan Rakitic some rest and some much-needed competition, and see the versatile Andre Gomes as a long term prospect.
The La Liga Champions have already added Dennis Suarez to their ranks and are now chasing the former Benfica man. Gomes has a contract that runs up to 2020, so if Barcelona really wish to acquire him they would have to pay a hefty sum of €60 million, which is his reported release clause. He has had a disappointing individual European Championship campaign, failing to live up to the hype which surrounded him before the start of the tournament, but he may still return to Spain as a European Champion, if Portugal beat France in the final to be played on Sunday.
