Barcelona are reportedly switching their focus to signing Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta after cooling their interest in the transfer of Arsenal‘s Hector Bellerin.
The club’s new manager Ernesto Valverde is said to be ‘in love’ with the versatile 27-year-old, and says if there is a chance of signing him then his arrival is a must.
Azpilicueta has been at Stamford Bridge since joining from Marseille in 2012, and has become a key player for the Blues in a number of different positions.
Starting out as a right-back, Azpilicueta then made the successful switch to the left-hand side before playing as one of three central defenders in Antonio Conte’s 3-4-3 formation last season.
Barcelona are likely to be looking at the Spain international as an option at right-back, with reports earlier today suggesting they’d decided against moving for Bellerin and could also consider Benfica’s Nelson Semedo as an option in that position.
According to Marca, Azpilicueta is now a priority target for Valverde, who is a huge fan of the player and tried to sign him in the past when he was in charge of Athletic Bilbao.
Chelsea won’t want to lose more players this summer after dealing with Diego Costa’s likely move back to Atletico Madrid, while the likes of Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois have also attracted interest from Real Madrid.
Azpilicueta played all 38 games of Chelsea’s title-winning campaign last term, scoring one goal and setting up four.
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