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In the eyes of Barcelona, who are looking for reinforcement in defense, the French duo from Valencia has appeared, reports the Catalan sports media.
According to the newspapers "El Mundo Deportivo" and "Sport", the champions of Spain are eyeing the 29-year-old Jeremy Mathieu and the 27-year-old Adil Rami.
In the recently concluded Spanish championship, the Valencia team finished fifth. The last round saw the "Bats" lose to the Sevilla team, and this failure allowed San Sebastiano's Real Sociedad club to climb up the ladder, securing the chance to play in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers, along with the fourth place.
It is speculated that such a fiasco for Valencia will prompt some players to look for new clubs. Among the potential candidates who would like to change clubs this summer are A. Rami and J. Mathieu. By the way, the buyout amount for the latter is very low - only 8 million euros, which should attract clubs with financial resources.
As "El Mundo Deportivo" states, the Catalan club has likely learned from the mistake of acquiring the Ukrainian Dmitry Chygrynskiy for 25 million euros, and is now looking for defenders who would immediately fit into the team's game and easily adapt in Spain. Considering all the major nuances, A. Rami and J. Mathieu would seem very suitable for the Spanish champions: both players are already used to La Liga, physically strong, tall and, most importantly, fast defenders.
According to the "Sport" publication, if Barcelona decided to pay the 8 million euros ransom for J. Mathieu, they would likely be tempted by an offer to acquire A. Rami as well. It is said that the player's agents themselves contacted Barcelona negotiators and inquired whether they were interested in the possibility of acquiring a defender. A. Rami is estimated to cost around 10 million euros for the Spanish champions.
