Barcelona has been hurting for a central midfielder toreplace the ageing Andreas Iniesta, the Camp Nou giant has opted for Paris Saint-Germain Marco Verratti but it seems difficult to price away from the Italian from the Capital club.
Barcelona has now turned their attention to Saul Niguez, the Spanish under-21 who scored a hat-trick in Spain’s 3-1 win over Italy in the semi-finals as Ernesto Valverde’s side is desperate to bolster their central midfielder options this summer.
The Spanish giant hasn’t given up hope of signing Verratti this summer despite the fact PSG have categorically ruled out his departure, but they’ll have to rethink any alternative after Saul ruled out the idea of leaving Atletico.“I have no intention of moving,”Saul told AS, via Goal.
“I’m where I want to be and things are going to remain the same. They [Atletico] have put their trust in me since I was young, and I want to repay that confidence.”
The 22-year-old only signed a new five-year contract with Atletico in May 2016 and Diego Simeone’s side is currently banned from registering new players untilJanuary, which would mean they wouldn’t be able to sign any replacement.
Saul has scored four goals in each of the last three La Liga campaigns but has developed a real ability toturn up in big matches in the Champions League and now for the Spanish U21 side.
The young Spanish has been in blistering form for Atletico Madrid aside scoring the hat-trick that sank Italy U-21 team, in the last two La Liga campaigns, only Filipe Luis (394) and Gabi (378) have won more tackles and interceptions combined than Saul (310).
