Aston Villa appear to be falling short with a €20 million bid for Franck Kessie, while president of football operations Monchi is apparently interested in a second Barcelona player.
Between 2017 and 2022, the Ivory Coast international was a crucial player for AC Milan, making over 200 appearances and helping them win the Serie A title in 2021/22.
Kessie’s contract expired last summer, and he was signed by Barcelona despite interest from Tottenham and Manchester United.
The 26-year-old won La Liga in his debut season in Spain, but he was only utilized sparingly by head coach Xavi, starting only seven league games for Barcelona.
The Catalans want Kessie gone, and the midfielder has been linked with a big-money move to Saudi Arabia, but Nacional believe he ‘wants to continue in the elite’ and is ‘now inspired to test the Premier League’.
Liverpool were said to be interested last month, but the Reds have already signed Alexis MacAllister and Dominik Szoboszlai, and it appears Romeo Lavia is their primary pick for the defensive midfield position.
The Aston Villa ‘project is highly appealing’ to Kessie, and it’s said Monchi has put ‘€20m on the table’ for Kessie under the orders of manager Unai Emery, however Barcelona ‘does not plan to sell for less than €30m’.
However, ‘negotiations are open’ and ‘there are several numbers that Kessie ends up playing under Emery’s directives,’ implying that there is wiggle room in those negotiations.
According to the source, Monchi is also interested in bringing Ferran Torres to Villa Park this summer, as the Spain international is ‘another of the players who do not fall into Xavi’s plans’.
The former Manchester City star, like Kessie, wanted to continue at Barcelona, but “little by little he has come to realize that he has no place in the Blaugrana squad.”
The asking price of €35 million is considered to be ‘the key hurdle’ for Villa in their pursuit of Torres.
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