Barcelona are reportedly demanding a transfer fee of €20 million for Clement Lenglet, who is a January transfer target for AS Roma.
According to a report from El Nacional, Barcelona have slapped a €20 million valuation on French defender Clement Lenglet, who is on the radars of Serie A giants AS Roma ahead of the January transfer window.
Lenglet has been with Barcelona since 2018 when he arrived from Sevilla and enjoyed a solid debut season at Camp Nou. However, over the past eighteen months or so, the 26-year-old has regressed, leading to his ouster from the starting XI. Having become out of favour under former manager Ronald Koeman, the Frenchman’s fortunes haven’t improved much since Xavi Hernandez took over the reins.
Indeed, Lenglet is behind Gerard Pique, Ronald Araujo and Eric Garcia in the pecking order at Camp Nou and has started just four La Liga matches in the current campaign. With Barcelona needing to free up space on the wage bill and generate transfer funds, the ex-Sevilla defender could be allowed to leave in January, sparking interest from several clubs in Europe.
There have been rumours of interest from north London clubs Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, while Lenglet’s former side, Sevilla, are also keen on re-signing him. As per the report mentioned above, Italian giants AS Roma have also entered the race for the signing of the France international.
Jose Mourinho has opted to use a three-man defensive unit at the club but has only four out-and-out centre-backs at his disposal in Gianluca Mancini, Marash Kumbulla, Roger Ibanez and veteran Chris Smalling. As a result, the Portuguese tactician is keen on signing another central defender in the January transfer window, with Lenglet emerging as an option on the club’s radars.
Barcelona, for their part, would be open to a sale. However, they have now set an asking price of €20 million for the 15-time capped France international. That might prove to be a problem given that Roma and Serie A clubs, in general, are suffering from financial issues while the Giallorossi are also in the market for a new right-back, which would require them to divide their resources adequately.
A move to Premier League could be a more likely prospect if either Tottenham or Arsenal decide to act on their interest in Lenglet in the January transfer window.
