There used to be a time when Barcelona seemingly had it in for Arsenal.
Any time any of Arsene Wenger’s astute buys or exciting youngsters bloomed into the world-class talent that the Frenchman had carefully groomed them for, Barca would start hovering intently to unsettle the Highbury favourite with their interest.
It happened time and time again, with a noticeable pattern. Arsenal player has a great season, Barcelona make it clear through their Catalan mouthpieces that they want him, Barca players shower praise on him in turns, and eventually after months of bad blood and gameplay, he ends up doing keepy-uppies at Camp Nou.
Alas the joke was quite often on the Blaugrana, as the Arsenal star in question would tend to underwhelm in La Liga.
But fast forward to now, and it looks like Liverpool have replaced the Gunners as Barcelona’s prime windup target. Their ploy to unsettle Philippe Coutinho into a move this month may have failed (the signing him bit – they may have achieved a level of discontent), but they’ve got an ace up their sleeves in terms of generating Scouse fume.
That is because they have emerged as serious rivals to Liverpool for the signature of one Naby Keita from RB Leipzig. That’s right, the Guinean midfielder who Jurgen Klopp has coveted all summer is magically now a target for Ernesto Valverde. According to Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo, Barca officials have already flown to Germany to sound out a deal.
Leipzig are most likely to give the Catalans the same response that they have dished out to Liverpool all summer, i.e. the player is simply not for sale. The 22-year-old does have a clause in his contract that would allow him to leave for a knock-down £48m next season, and Jurgen Klopp always had that to fall back on if no deal was doing this year.
But now, with Barcelona seemingly intent on pissing on Liverpool’s chips by any means possible, the player may have his head turned to Iberia before ever wearing the famous red jersey.
