Barcelona will either purchase Arsenal or Chelsea star

Either Arsenal or Chelsea will likely lose a star fullback to Barcelona this summer

Barcelona know they need to add a world-class fullback to their squad this summer and that search has them zeroed in on two Premier League stars. Either Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin or Chelsea’s Cesar Azpilicueta will likely head to Barca this summer.

Both Arsenal and Chelsea need to be on high alert regarding their most talented young fullbacks. Sky Sports journalist Guillem Balague reports that while Bellerin is Barcelona’s top choice, Arsenal is adamant they won’t sell him at any price. That should increase the chances of Azpilicueta making the move to La Liga instead.

The Arsenal star is the younger of the two, and likely will end up being the better player over time. That is precisely why Arsene Wenger is so adamant that his club won’t part with the young Spanish defender. It’s easy to see why Barcelona would be interested, but even their vast wealth likely won’t be able to pry Bellerin away from The Emirates.

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That should focus Barcelona’s attention squarely on Azpilicueta. In sharp contrast to Arsenal’s view on Bellerin, the Blues are willing to entertain reasonably modest offers for their fullback. They are willing to move the 26-year-old Spanish fullback for a transfer sum of around 20 million pounds.

That’s a very reasonable sum for a player who is capable of performing adequately at both right and left back. That’s a very rare quality in a player these days and would give Barcelona a great deal of flexibility when they want to rotate their defense. In fact, his positional flexibility is so rare it’s difficult to really quantify in terms of dollars in the transfer market.

The downside to Azpilicueta is that he doesn’t give you quite the long-term potential that you see from Bellerin. Many prognosticators expect Bellerin to develop into a truly world-class fullback while Azpilicueta will probably fall just short of that standard. The Chelsea man is still an excellent footballer, but he isn’t one of the first names you think of when considering the best fullbacks in the world.

Even so, Azpilicueta will be a wanted man this summer. Already, the likes of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid have already registered varying amounts of interest in the Chelsea man. Given the fact that the Blues haven’t exactly worked to discourage their interest, it’s a pretty safe bet that he’ll move away from Stamford Bridge this summer.

Either Arsenal or Chelsea are likely going to lose a star fullback this summer to Barcelona. Count on it being Azpilicueta making the move and Bellerin staying put in North London.

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