Barcelona have turned their attention to Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta as they seek to replace the departing Dani Alves.
Alves will leave the Nou Camp this summer and, as reported by the Daily Telegraph, with their chances of signing Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin appearing to be rather remote at present, Barcelona are keen to sign Azpilicueta.
Although he has featured predominantly as a left-back in recent seasons, Azpilicueta has plenty of experience of playing in the opposite full-back berth and is seen as one of the Premier League’s standout defenders, despite the difficulties that Chelsea endured this season.
Azpilicueta has developed steadily since joining Chelsea and the Spaniard is extremely composed on the ball, as demonstrated by the fact that he had an average pass accuracy of 81% in the Premier League this campaign.
Chelsea will be hugely reluctant to let Azpilicueta, 26, to leave with the Blues’ current back-up at left-back, Baba Rahman, having been rather unconvincing in his first campaign in English football.
Azpilicueta is currently with the Spain squad preparing for Euro 2016. Vicente Del Bosque’s side taking on Czech Republic, Turkey and Croatia in Group D.
Spain suffered a surprise defeat to Georgia in their final warm-up fixture ahead of the tournament, but Del Bosque is confident that his team will be able to thrive when the tournament gets underway.
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