Barcelona and Juventus will reportedly look to try again in January to find an agreement which would see Ivan Rakitic and Emre Can swap clubs.
Both Euro giants strengthened their respective squads this past summer and specifically their midfields, with Frenkie de Jong joining the reigning La Liga champions while the Bianconeri swooped for Adrien Rabiot and Aaron Ramsey.
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In turn, it would appear as though both have plenty of quality and depth available to their respective coaches already, but there is perhaps now too much competition for places.
Can failed to make the cut for Juve’s Champions League squad this week, which unsurprisingly led to an angry reaction from the German international, as noted by the Guardian.
As for Rakitic, he has started the season coming off the bench, and for a player who has made 50 or more appearances for Barcelona in each campaign since he arrived at the Nou Camp, he’ll be concerned over potentially falling down the pecking order this season.
It appears as though the two clubs in question are set to try and find a resolution in January, as Goal Italy report that they could look to secure a swap deal which would see the two unhappy midfielders essentially switch places.
It was a move that was touted this summer, as per the report, but ultimately failed to materialise, and so that could help with negotiations in the New Year to speed up the process of finding an agreement.
Nevertheless, the report above adds that the terms of the deal will still need to be agreed upon, and so discussions may well continue in the coming months and January to ensure that a deal goes through this time.
Given Rakitic turns 32 next March while Can will turn 26 in January, there is surely a disparity there that will need to be levelled out by Barca to sweeten the deal.
