Barcelona are reportedly interested in signing the Valencia defender Jose Gaya in the summer transfer window.
According to El Gol Digital, Barcelona seems to have made their first move to sign Jose Gaya from Valencia. The 25-year-old Spanish international is being looked at like a potential replacement for Jordi Alba.
As per the report Barcelona has already tabled an offer of €15 million for signing the Valencia captain. Jose Gaya has gone to establish himself as one of the best defenders for the team in the league. Currently, Gaya has his contract till 2023 with a release clause of €50m on him.
Valencia are currently working on renewing his contract. However, it will be difficult for them as they are under a financial burden due to the pandemic. It is believed Valencia will likely sell Gaya this summer at a price of €15 million. This is much less than his release clause because of their poor performance this season and bad financial condition.
Gaya’s future at Valencia
Jose Gaya has come a long way since making his first-team debut for Valencia in 2012. He has gone on to become a pivotal figure for the Spanish outfit over the last half-a-decade or so. He was also promoted to the role of club captain after Dani Parejo left last summer.
Gaya has featured 258 times for Valencia, scoring 6 goals and 28 assists. His overwhelming progress has duly been noticed by some of the biggest clubs in the world and heading into the summer transfer window it is Barcelona showing a lot of interest in signing him.
The club sold several of their big-name players last summer to help with their crippling financial crisis. The likes of Rodrigo, Ferran Torres, Geoffrey Kondogbia, and Francis Coquelin left the club. The club replaced them with several loan signings to try and build a squad.
There is likely to be a repeat of last summer’s scenario this year, as Valencia sit 14th in La Liga. Just six points ahead of the teams occupying the relegation places. With all this happening at Valencia, it is likely that Jose Gaya would be sold by them to another club like Barcelona or Atletico Madrid.
Gaya to replace Jordi Alba at Barcelona
For nearly a decade, Jordi Alba has made Barcelona’s left-back spot his own, constantly delivering world-class performances. During that time, the Spaniard had defined the tale of a complete full-back, always backing up with stable defensive performances.
However, Alba has entered the final phase of his career. And now Barcelona are looking for a player to replace him in the team. They bought Junior Firpo from Real Betis, however, he has not been impressive at all. With all things considered, Barcelona would be looking to offload him this summer.
Currently, Sergio Dest has been fulfilling the left-back position for some time. It is no doubt Gaya would be an ideal replacement for Alba, as he is a quick and agile center-back who hardly gets beaten in a 1v1 foot race with the opposition inside his half.
He possesses remarkable strength to overpower the opponent, His leadership quality is also remarkable. A player of Gaya’s quality would be an asset for Ronald Koeman’s team in the next seasons.
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