Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin has emerged as one of the most in-demand defenders in world football over recent months but the Gunners will hope that matters in Turin could take one potential suitor out of the mix.
Barcelona have long harboured hopes to bring La Masia graduate Bellerin back to the Nou Camp and identified him as the ideal replacement for Dani Alves earlier in the year.
With Alves now at Juventus Barcelona’s need is pressing; Luis Enrique has deployed midfielder Sergi Roberto at right-back to some success this season but Aleix Vidal, bought in 2015 with an eye to the future, has looked ill at ease.
Any deal for Bellerin, whose Arsenal contract expires in 2019, would likely be protracted and contentious – it would seem highly improbable that either Barcelona or Manchester City would be able to pry him away in the January transfer window.
As such Barcelona may be forced to look elsewhere and have long been linked with Stephan Lichtsteiner, the Juventus full-back who lost his starting spot following the arrival of Alves in the summer.
It was reported earlier on Monday that the Serie A champions would be willing to sell the 32-year-old in January as long as it was not to strengthen a domestic rival – these claims were given further credence when leading Italian agent Federico Pastorello said that he believed Lichtsteiner had asked to leave Juventus.
“Stephan’s agent is his brother Marco, who I’ve worked with for a long time,” Pastrorello said. “From what I understand, Stephan had expressed his desire to change teams after many years at Juve, also because of the arrival of Dani Alves.”
If Barcelona decide they cannot cope without a full-back in January they could scarcely do better than to bring in Lichtsteiner, a regular starter in five Scudetti winning sides and a Swiss international with 86 caps to his names.
Arsenal’s prevarication over talks with Bellerin’s representatives may be doing little to secure the long-term future of one of Europe’s brightest young stars but they can at least hope that Luis Enrique’s need is sufficiently pressing that he parks a move for the 21-year-old for the short-term at least.
Whether the Gunners will be as fortuitous in their bid to fend off Manchester City remains to be seen.
