Villarreal aiming to dent Barcelona chances of signing defender | OneFootball

Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick is keen for a new right-back to be signed in the summer, and as such, names have started being added to a shortlist. One of the players being considered is relatively close to home, that being Rayo Vallecano’s Romanian international, Andrei Ratiu.

Ratiu, who has had a very strong season at Vallecas, has attracted a lot of interest in recent months. Aston Villa considered signing him during the winter transfer window before they settled on Levante’s Andres Garcia, while he has even been considered as an option by Real Madrid, should they miss out on bringing in Trent Alexander-Arnold when his Liverpool contract runs out at the end of the season.

Barcelona have been tracking Ratiu for a while, as they consider him to be a good option to compete for the starting right-back position with Jules Kounde. Further to that, Rayo are expected to make it relatively easy for a deal to be done, with their minimum asking price being a mere €10m.

Barcelona should be able to afford this fee, but given that there is considerable interest in Ratiu’s services, it would be no surprise to see his price rise significantly, despite the fact that the 26-year-old is out of contract at the end of next season. And to make matters worse for the Catalans, Villarreal have now entered the race, as per El Periódico Mediterráneo.

Ratiu have a significant advantage over the rest of the competition in the race for Ratiu, given that they have 50% of his rights. As such, they are able to pay exactly half of everyone else that wants to sign the player.

Villarreal are in need of a right-back, especially if Juan Foyth were to leave in the summer. They should be able to afford whatever Rayo ask for given their 50% sell-on, which is bad for Barcelona and the others.