Fabrizio Romano: Talks held over last 4-5 months for Liverpool target transfer as Barcelona pounce
Barcelona have reportedly identified Alessandro Bastoni as their priority signing for the defence.
Fabrizio Romano confirmed club officials have already established contact with the Serie A outfit ahead of an impending move this summer.
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This comes amid reported interest from Liverpool in the highly-regarded centre-back.
Barcelona coming in hot for Alessandro Bastoni
Romano went on to confirm that Bastoni himself is aware of Barcelona’s serious interest in his services.
“Barcelona want Alessandro Bastoni. They consider him a priority target,” the Italian spoke on his eponymous YouTube channel.
“That’s not new [information] if you’re following the channel. I told you several times that Barcelona consider him Bastoni a really important target for the summer transfer window.
“More on this: Alessandro Bastoni is aware of Barcelona interest. Deco, Barcelona director, has been in Italy not just once in the last four-five months to have some conversations and to start understanding the situation around Bastoni.”
More to the point, no one from the player’s camp has proceeded to kill the story in its infancy.
We’d take that to suggest the Italian is at least open to the idea of a switch to Spain.
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How much will it cost to sign Bastoni?
Fabrizio Romano emphasised that Inter Milan will want an ‘important fee’ if they’re to release their 26-year-old.
“The reports coming a few days and weeks ago about €50m [£43.2m] are not confirmed,” the influential transfer news journalist added.
“Inter are not confirming if they’re selling Bastoni €45m-50m – probably, they want more than this.”
Liverpool are said to be interested in the Inter Milan defender
We have to admit that reports linking the Reds with a move for Bastoni have gone somewhat cold in recent weeks and months.
However, if there’s any truth to the suggestion that Inter would be prepared to part ways with their phenomenal centre-half for less than £50m, it’s a deal we’d hope Liverpool were all over.
As it stands, and bearing in mind Romano’s update, it seems that the Italians won’t be prepared to sell their defensive leader for such a meagre fee.
In that case, it would surely end Barcelona’s interest in the player, given the La Liga outfit’s well-documented financial struggles. At that point, Liverpool would have an even clearer route to Alessandro Bastoni’s signature, provided the asking price meets our rough valuation of the player.
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