The former Blaugranas coach had lunch with Barcelona president Joan Laporta, where the options to boost both squads were discussed.
It’s already a known that t he summer transfer window usually brings with it rumors of far-fetched deals in the making, but when the supposed key perpetrators involved in the rumors fan the fire by having lunch together right in the public eye, then the “far-fetched deals” may not end up too far fetched at all.
This was precisely what happened in the lunch téte-a-téte between Pep Guardiola and Barcelona president, Joan Laporta. Lunch was of secondary significance as the main agenda was to discuss a potential deal involving players from Manchester City and Los Blaugranas as part of Guardiola’s holiday plans in Mallorca.
According to Catalan radio station RAC1, Barcelona’s vice president Mateu Alemany was also present, and he reportedly asked Guardiola about chances to swap players, with the radio station suggesting that Guardiola brought up two names to the table, while also including various of his pupils at Manchester City to be part of the deal.
Sergi Roberto and Ousmané Dembelé were the names brought up by Guardiola. Home-grown footballer Roberto has been dunked all season long for his drop in form and defensive errors with Barcelona said to be looking to let him go this summer. A swap deal would reunite Roberto with Guardiola as the former Barcelona boss played a key role in his debut.
With Dembelé, although allegedly a part of Ronald Koeman’s plans, the Camp Nou would not say no if an offer that met their demands came along.
The contracts for both Dembelé and Roberto are up next season, meaning that the club needs to sell both of them to get a profit, or risk losing them on free transfers next summer.
With this scenario in mind, Guardiola could well use this opportunity to rid himself of some of the players that are surplus to his team’s requirements and replace them with those that will serve his needs with the Citizens. The first two names offered by Guardiola were those of Bernardo Silva and Joao Cancelo. Later, when the subject of Dembelé’s deal was being discussed, the names of Aymeric Laporte and even winger Raheem Sterling were thrown into the mix. However details about a cash-plus-player deal or just a player swap were not revealed by RAC1.
Now it all depends on the willingness of the parties to make these crazy deals happen. The first steps have been taken, and we will just have to wait and see which of these options end up being more appealing to either the Blaugranas and the Citizens.