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| Barça and Atletico Madrid reach agreement for Vietto |
FC Barcelona have reached an agreement with Atletico Madrid for the transfer of Luciano Vietto to the Catalan club this summer with Barça set to pay a sum of €22 million for his acquisition.
According to Catalan newspaper Mundo Deportivo, both clubs have reached an agreement for the player to arrive at Camp Nou and it’s just a matter of time before the transfer is officially announced.
Barça are in search of a striker to be their fifth signing of the summer and to fill the role as a backup for the Messi-Suarez-Neymar trio. The club saw Sevilla striker Kevin Gameiro as the favourite option but switched their sight to Luciano Vietto as they were not willing to pay Sevilla’s €40M asking price for Gameiro.
Reports over the past days suggested that Vietto was closer to joining Sevilla than Barça but the situation has changed recently after interests from the Andalusian club dropped as they discovered the player’s heart is set at Barcelona.
According to MD, Vietto was unclear about his move to Barça as he knows he would have limited playing time due to the presence of Messi, Suarez and Neymar upfront but the club succeeded in convincing him to join them by showing him facilities and assuring him that he’ll grow as a player if he plays here.
One of the factors that could engineer the player’s arrival is the fact that he doesn’t fit into Diego Simeone’s defensive system at Atletico Madrid. Another factor is his desire to play alongside idol Lionel Messi and with the star retiring from international football, Barcelona is the only place he could see his dream come true.
During the early hours of yesterday after the announcement of the arrival of Andre Gomes, reliable transfer source Di Marzio stated that Luciano Vietto is on the verge of being Barça’s fifth signing of the summer.
The latest right now according to MD is that an agreement has been reached, a fee of €22 million and there is a huge possibility the deal is officially announced next week.