Barcelona are keen on Carrasco

Barcelona have their eye on Carrasco. Yesterday the news, broken by the Cadena Ser radio station, was that the Belgian winger was one of this summer's main targets for the Catalan club's sporting directors. And this newspaper has now unearthed more information on the possibility of the Belgian moving to the Camp Nou.

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Carrasco's buy-out clause: 40 million

Barcelona's interest is clear, as is the intransigience of Atleti, who simply won't sell for less than his 40 million buy-out clause. (25% of that will go to Monaco, under the clause agreed when Carrasco came to Atleti).

Carrasco seduced by Barcelona's interest

Carrasco is fully aware of Barcelona's interest (they were looking at him when he was at Monaco) and is as interested in it as any footballer would be. Over the past few weeks Atleti have been trying to tie the player to the club with a new deal, as they've done with Oblak and Griezmann, however Carrasco has refused, with the negotiations stuck on his new salary. That means there's no new buy-out clause. 

 The other issue affecting Carrasco is the arrival of Gaitán. He's coming in to play where he was most effective at Benfica, on the left. But that's where Carrasco prefers to play. He feels less effective when he's out on the right, where his devastating diagonal run has less impact. He played on the right last season with Koke taking the left hand side, and now it looks even less likely that he'll get playing time where he really wants to be. 

Carrasco won't force the issue

Carrasco won't force his exit though. He has great respect for Simeone, the club and its fans, but Barcelona is Barcelona... As for the Catalans, if they do want him, they know the price.