By George Aluo
High riding Dutch side, Ajax appear to have started reaping the benefit of last week’s five star performance against Real Madrid who they bundled out the money spinning UEFA Champions League.
24 hours after the ‘Bernabeu miracle’ in which Ajax hammered Real 4-1 to secure a 5-3 aggregate victory into the quarterfinals of the Champions league, Barcelona have literally raided the club.
The Catalan giants have already sealed a 75 million euro deal (about N30bn) for 21 year old midfielder, Frenkie de Jong, while opening talks with Ajax for 19 year old centre back Matthijs de Ligt.
Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu who confirmed the Ajax raid said De Ligt was “Barcelona’s radar.”
“De Ligt’s name is on the table. Where there is such talent away from Barcelona, we’re always looking at them,” were Bartomeu’s words in an interview he granted a local radio station.
Bartomeu stressed that Barca had to move swiftly to seal De Jong’s deal following the several interest the young lad was attracting from top European clubs.
“We felt we had to move quickly on De Jong because there were many clubs that wanted him. Delay would have been dangerous,” Bartomeu stated.
Ajax’s former Barcelona back-up goalkeeper Andre Onana in a separate interview disclosed that De Ligt is interested in the Barcelona deal.
“De Ligt would like to go to Barca. I talked to him several times and with De Jong…both of them are interested in joining Barcelona,” Onana was quoted as saying.
It would be noted that Barcelona have made a habit of doing similar deals in the past and have worked hard over recent months to acquire players of considerable promise.
Another of their moves made into the Brazilian market saw them acquire 20-year-old right-back Emerson from Atletico Mineiro in January for €12m (£10m/$14m).
He is currently seeing out the 2018-19 campaign on loan at Real Betis before linking up with the Blaugrana in July.
Emerson will be joined at Camp Nou this summer by fellow defender Jean-Clair Todibo.
The 19-year-old has a pre-contract agreement in place with Barca that will see him move to Spain once his current deal at Toulouse expires.
A recent report also disclosed that Barcelona are close to completing a €20 million (about N8bn) double deal for highly-rated Palmeiras of Brazil pair of Vitao and Luan Candido.
Negotiations between the Liga giants and their Brazilian counterparts are believed to be at an advanced stage.
If an agreement can be reached, then two more top teenage talents are set to join the ranks at Camp Nou.
Vitao is a 19-year-old centre-half, while club colleague Candido is a promising 18-year-old left-back.
The terms of a deal to take them to Catalunya are being thrashed out by agent Andre Cury, a representative of Barcelona in South America.
He has a strong working relationship with Palmeiras’ sporting director Alexandre Mattos and has helped to progress matters to this point.
While he continues negotiations in Brazil, representatives from Palmeiras are in Europe to finalise the proposal.
Vitao is also in Barcelona to complete the formalities of a move to one of world football’s biggest clubs.
Once his services are secured, it is possible that he could link up with Barca’s B side or be loaned out in order to gain more senior experience.
Both he and Candido are considered to be ones for the future, with their potential being bought into at this stage before interest in their services intensifies.
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