A lot has been written recently about Frank Kessie. The Ivory Coast midfielder is currently a Barcelona member, where he arrived only a year ago, as a free agent from AC Milan. But now it seems that he will change clubs (again) and maybe even a country (again). A bit of transfer controversy is attached to his name. If you read Italian papers, he is close to Juventus, but if you read news from Spain, he is eyeing a move to England. 🚨🎖️| JUST IN: Barcelona hope to close the sale of Franck Kessie this week. The player’s next club is closer to the Premier League than Italy. [@martinezferran] #fcblive 🏴 pic.twitter.com/HXyZLRAX97— BarçaTimes (@BarcaTimes) July 25, 2023 Everything starts (as always) with Barcelona’s financial state, which is bad. The Catalans need to offload players and their wages (and earn some money in the process) fast, and Frank Kessie is an ideal candidate. He arrived as a free agent, so whatever Barca forks out from interested clubs will be a pure bonus, not to mention that he will shrink the club’s wage bill. Juventus moved in first with an offer and the Italian media report that the clubs have agreed on a loan with an obligation to buy for around 15 million euros. Italians are also writing that it’s up to the player to accept the terms of the club from Torino, and that he is a long-time desire of coach Massimiliano Allegri, who wanted to buy him four years ago when he was in Atalanta.Kessie doesn’t want to move, but Juventus hope Californian sunshine could seduce himBut, the usually very well informed Mundo Deportivo has a different view. According to their sources from Camp Nou, neither Barcelona nor the player are keen on a Juve move. The Catalans are satisfied with the transfer sum, but they need money now, not in 2024, so a loan option is out of the question. Also, the player is not keen on going back to Italy, where he already played for Cesena, Atalanta and AC Milan. Kessie would like (as most of unwanted Barca players) to stay and fight for his place in the team, even thou Xavi talked to him and explained that he will have even fewer opportunities this season, due to arrival of Ilkay Gundogan and Oriol Romeu to already crowded Barca midfield. Dembele’s ‘NO’ to 200,000,000 euros leaves Barca 50,000,000 shortSo, where should he go then? La Liga champion will first need to convince/force him to leave the club, and they are currently shopping the Ivorian midfielder to the Premier League. The player would be OK with that, as long as he moves to the biggest club, but not surprisingly, they are not so interested. A B option would be to do a deal with clubs like Aston Villa and Wolves, as Barca’s sporting director Deco has good contacts there and the clubs previously worked with Catalans, but the big question is are those clubs big enough for Kessie’s appetites. ##NAJAVA_MECA_7390160##
