Sevilla have put up winger Víctor Machín Pérez up for sale in the summer, amidst interest from Barcelona.
According to a report in Transfermarketweb, Sevilla have put up the Spanish International winger up for sale and have set his price at a massive €40 million with clubs like Tottenham Hotspur, Paris Saint-Germain, Napoli and AS Roma interested as well.
A few days ago it was reported that the Atletico Madrid and Manchester City had also joined Barcelona in the race for the former Las Palmas winger. However Vitolo, who joined Sevilla in the summer of 2013, is said to be ‘tempted’ by the opportunity to move to the Nou Camp.
After moving to the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium nearly 4 years ago from boyhood club UD Las Palmas, Vitolo became a regular in Unai Emery’s starting XI and was an integral part of 3 consecutive UEFA Europa League winning sides.
The winger has made no secret of his desire to play for Barcelona some day, saying recently: “Who would not want to play for one of Spain’s biggest teams? It would be nice – they are always linked with a lot of names and you don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Vitolo, who has 2 seasons left on his current contract, has managed to hold onto his place in Sevilla’s first team even after the arrival of Jorge Sampaoli last summer and has made 42 appearances so far, scoring 4 goals and registering 9 appearances in all competitions.
An extremely versatile player, he can play in various positions in midfield and anywhere in a front three, something Barcelona would covet in a player. In the past 4 seasons, he has made a total of 176 appearances for Sevilla, scoring 26 goals and getting 44 assists in the process.
His impressive performances in the white of Los Nervionenses have also resulted in call ups to the Spanish National squad and the 27-year-old is now a regular fixture in Julen Lopetegui’s first team, where he has scored 4 goals in 10 appearances.
Barcelona were in the hunt for a player who could ease the goalscoring burden on Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez last summer and eventually signed Paco Alcacer from Valencia. However, he barely made an impact at the Nou Camp and has had an abysmal debut season.
So it is likely that the Blaugranas will look to add more firepower to their ranks and Vitolo could prove to be a good option for the Catalans to consider. He has spent his entire career in Spain and the past four years in the Spanish top flight, in which he has made over 110 appearances for Sevilla.
However, the €40 million asking price may prove to be too steep for Barcelona, who have other more pressing issues to address at the moment. They are in desperate need of reinforcements in midfield and defence, and are yet to determine Luis Enrique’s successor.
Besides that, they are amidst contract negotiations with Lionel Messi. Tying the Argentine down to a new long-term contract will likely cost the club fortune, but while Barcelona are one of Europe’s wealthiest clubs, raising adequate funds may still prove to be an issue and they will likely sort out more important problems, before spending on another forward.