Barcelona continue to struggle to land Athletic Club’s sensational winger, Nico Williams.
The 22-year-old is believed to have said yes to the Catalan giants, but as of this moment, a suitable offer to the Basque club for one of their best players hasn’t been forthcoming.
As with the past couple of summers, president Joan Laporta appears keen to accentuate the positives, but the financial situation that the club find themselves in is still a millstone around their necks.
With that in mind, it seems that the Blaugranes could go in a very different direction indeed.
Barcelona looking at surprise Perisic transfer
According to Mundo Deportivo who credit Croatian media with the story, Ivan Perisic, 35, is being lined up as an alternative.
The player, who flopped at Tottenham before going out on loan to boyhood club, Hajduk Split, is now a free agent, and Hansi Flick, who managed him at Bayern Munich, clearly believes the player still has something he can work with.
Perisic was in fact one of the scorers in Bayern’s era-defining 8-2 win over Barca in the Champions League, not that fans of the Catalan club would hold that against him if he proved to be a studious addition to the first team.
The disappointment at not signing Williams would be palpable of course, however, such is the state of play at Barcelona at the moment, that they need to make the best of their situation.
As a low cost alternative who could play in a variety of positions, which may suit Flick’s tactical experiments, Perisic might not actually be the worst purchase in the world.
With just over a fortnight left until the transfer window closes for business, clearly Barcelona need to get their skates on one way or the other.