Nicolas Otamendi could be on his way out of Manchester City as Barcelona have emerged as surprise contenders to sign the Argentine. Otamendi has not featured regularly for Pep Guardiola’s side this season and at 30-years-old, he is approaching the latter stages of his career.
In John Stones and Aymeric Laporte, City do boast two of the top young centre-backs in Europe and with Vincent Kompany, they have an experienced mentor who will be able to guide them through difficult situations.
However Otamendi is providing Pep Guardiola, leading his manager to say yesterday: “He’s not happy, I don’t have an answer. When he plays he’s happy, when he doesn’t play he’s not happy, but not just Otamendi – everybody. All of them.”
Barca would like to strengthen their defence and according to the Manchester Evening News, Otamendi could well be on their radar. Barcelona are currently relying on Gerard Pique alongside Clement Lenglet or Thomas Vermaelen at the back, with Samuel Umtiti out injured.
Manchester City meanwhile are in the running to sign Ajax youngster Matthijs de Ligt, just days after Barcelona scooped up another Ajax talent Frenkie De Jong for €75m.
He will join next summer but this move does mean Barcelona will be unlikely to be able to afford de Ligt in the coming months.
A reliable Dutch source, Voetbal International, suggest that City are the ‘main bidder’ for the Ajax captain De Ligt with several of Europe’s other top clubs also chasing him. Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman has heaped the praise on one of his top talents saying: “He’s the Ajax captain and from their school. That is to say, Barca’s school, because it means that he has a lot of technical quality and tactical nous.”He will be the best centre-back in the world in two years.”