Hypothesis of Barcelona’s curiosity in Portuguese worldwide have been fueled by Jorge Mendes – report

Not too way back, Rafael Leao was a sizzling subject at Barcelona, who have been reportedly eager on bringing within the Portuguese worldwide from AC Milan.

Leao was even recognized as the best long-term substitute for the ageing Robert Lewandowski.

Jorge Mendes: The mastermind behind Leao hyperlinks?

Nonetheless, a brand new report from Matteo Moretto means that a lot of the hypothesis linking the winger to the Blaugrana was largely fueled by super-agent Jorge Mendes reasonably than any real motion from the Catalan membership.

Mendes, who had a short lived mandate to facilitate a switch for Leao following his contract renewal with Milan, was in common contact with Barcelona president Joan Laporta.

This contact reportedly led to a flurry of rumours relating to a possible transfer to the La Liga giants.

Is Rafael Leao a real choice for Barcelona? (Photograph by Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Pictures)

Nonetheless, regardless of the agent’s efforts to generate curiosity, no actual progress was ever made in negotiations between the 2 golf equipment.

Now, with the expiration of Mendes’ mandate, the scenario has modified considerably. The Portuguese winger is not related to the influential agent, and their skilled relationship has utterly dissolved.

In consequence, any earlier hyperlinks between Leao and Barcelona that have been primarily pushed by Mendes’ involvement have now fizzled out.

With Barcelona nonetheless going through monetary constraints and Leao settled in Milan, any speedy transfer to Spain appears extremely unlikely, at the least in the interim.

It is going to be attention-grabbing to see whether or not or not the scenario modifications within the coming summer season, particularly if Barcelona handle to conjure up funds to signal such a high participant.