Barça considering move for Newcastle's Ayoze Pérez
The Camp Nou board was keen on signing the Tenerife prodigy in 2014 when he moved to St James' Park and see him as ideal fourth forward.
Ayoze Pérez has emerged as a potential transfer target for Barcelona after Luciano Vietto joined the lengthy list of forwards to turn down a move to Camp Nou as back up to Leo Messi, Luis Suárez and Neymar.
The Newcastle striker, who came to prominence at Tenerife, is not the only name on Robert Fernández’s list but he ticks plenty of the boxes on the sheet of paper marked “fourth striker.” At 23, Pérez can play across the front line, will not mind being on the bench at Camp Nou and is available for a fee of 18 million euros.
Barcelona’s interest in Pérez is not a new occurrence. The Camp Nou board tried to sign him in 2014 after he set the Segunda División alight with 16 goals in 34 games for Tenerife, earning Pérez the breakthrough player and best attacking midfielder prizes at the 2013-14 LFP awards. However, Pérez elected to join Newcastle, for a fee of around two million euros, rather than Barça B.
Spurs and Manchester United interest
Pérez’s performances in England attracted the interest of Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United during 2015 but he renewed his contract at St James’ Park in February of this year. However, Newcastle’s relegation has put a different spin on things. Barcelona has continued to scout the player and made a discreet inquiry in March, when he was an outside candidate for the vacant position behind the likes of Ángel Correa, Vietto, Ousmane Dembélé, Hatem Ben Arfa, Kevin Gameiro, et al.
But with that list dwindling by the day, Fernández has renewed his interest in the Spain under-21 international. Pérez has apparently made his willingness to play a secondary role clear and AS understands that Rafa Benítez will be willing to listen to offers in the region of 18 million euros.