Arsenal unhappy with Barcelona trying to unsettle their players
Bad blood is brewing between Arsenal and Barcelona
Tensions between Arsenal and Barcelona are finally starting to bubble near the surface. In particular, the Gunners are unhappy with the La Liga giants unsettling some of their star players.
The best example of this conflict is right back Hector Bellerin. Arsene Wenger and company are unhappy with how publicly Barcelona officials have expressed interest in signing the young Spaniard. Of course, Barca officials are very familiar with Bellerin since he came up through their famed La Masia Academy.
Wenger has made it clear that Arsenal will not sell Bellerin this summer at any price. It doesn’t seem that Barcelona have gotten the message. The Spanish giants continue to be linked with a big money swoop for Bellerin on a daily basis.
Clearly that sort of media attention has caught Bellerin’s eye. He is only human after all. The idea of making a triumphant move home to play for his boyhood club has to be appealing to him on a variety of levels. The fact that it would also be accompanied by a nice pay raise only makes it a more attractive proposition.
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Arsenal hold the power in negotiations for now, but they will need to work hard to make sure that Bellerin doesn’t become distracted by interest from Barcelona. His play dipped at the end of last season forcing Wenger to put him on the bench. He covered the controversy by blaming the benching on tactical changes, but it was clear that Bellerin wasn’t up to the task.
In fact, it’s fair to question whether or not keeping hold of Bellerin is really worth the trouble. He’s a terrific young talent, but his stock may never be higher. The case can be made that Wenger should at least sound Barcelona out to see what sort of fee they might be willing to pay. Would Bellerin really be worth hanging on to if the Gunners could get £60 million for his services?
Next: Barcelona moving closer to defender deals
Hector Bellerin’s return to Barcelona seems inevitable, but it probably won’t happen this summer. That means you can expect to read hundreds of stories about the club’s interest in the Arsenal fullback over the next year. Eventually the press will get it right and he’ll make the big money move.