Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum has agreed to leave Anfield this summer when his contract expires and has already committed to joining Barcelona.
Wijnaldum has been high on Barcelona's wish list for the last 12 months, with Dutch manager Ronald Koeman keen to link up with his fellow countryman at club level, but the two sides failed to agree on a transfer fee last summer.
Since then, Liverpool have attempted to convince Wijnaldum to ink fresh terms at Anfield but there has yet to be an agreement, and The Times state that is because the Dutchman has already agreed a pre-contract deal with Barcelona.
The fact that Wijnaldum is available on a free transfer worked in his favour, with new president Joan Laporta keen to use Barcelona's limited transfer funds to bolster other areas of the squad, with both a striker and a centre-back high on the agenda.
There have been questions over whether Laporta would even persist with a deal for Wijnaldum, who was one of Koeman's targets. The new president is considering his options when it comes to the manager, with Leicester's Brendan Rodgers and RB Leipzig's Julian Nagelsmann both popular candidates, but the decision to sign Wijnaldum is a clear sign of confidence in the current boss.
Wijnaldum recently admitted that he would find it incredibly difficult to walk away from Liverpool, saying: "Really difficult. If that happens, you would be leaving a team that you really love. A team that you shared a lot of years together, a team where you feel really comfortable. That would be difficult but, on the other side, you would know the situation why you have to leave.
“It always depends on the situation but I would be devastated [if] I didn’t play with this team any more, that’s for sure."
Manager Jurgen Klopp has also spoken of his desire to see Wijnaldum put pen to paper on an extension, but despite both sides working towards the same goal, there has seemingly been an obstacle which has been impossible to overcome.
Instead, Wijnaldum now looks set to continue his career at Camp Nou, where he will become the first signing of Laporta's second reign at the club.
Wijnaldum might not even be the only Liverpool player to swap England for Spain. According to La Razon, both Xherdan Shaqiri and Takumi Minamino have found themselves on Sevilla's radar and could be targeted in a £20m double deal.
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Source : 90min