According to reports, Barcelona have told Chelsea to pay the release clause of midfielder Fermin Lopez after the Premier League club offered £29.3million. Fermin joined the La Masia ranks at the age of 13, arriving from Spanish rivals Real Betis.
He made his Barcelona debut last August after a loan spell with Linares Deportivo in 2022/23, coming off the bench late on in a 4-3 La Liga victory away to Villarreal. Surprisingly, the 21-year-old took advantage of the club’s injury troubles to play 42 times across all competitions last term, scoring 11 goals and providing one assist. His fine form at club level earned Fermin a place in Luis de la Fuente’s squad for the European Championship after making his Spain debut in a June friendly against Andorra.
MORE ON BARCELONA FROM F365 👉 Williams to Liverpool, Olmo to Man City? Five transfers for Spain stars after Euro 2024 glory 👉 Salah to Real Madrid, Isak to PSG? 10 AI-predicted transfers ranked on the likelihood of them happening The Barcelona talent has been an unused substitute in all but one of La Roja’s six Euro 2024 fixtures, coming off the bench in a dead rubber against Albania in the group stage. Fermin’s form for the La Liga giants has caught the eye of Premier League outfit Chelsea , who are looking to be aggressive in the transfer market once again. The Blues have spent over £1billion on new players since a Todd Boehly-led consortium bought them from Roman Abramovich before the 2022 summer transfer window.
They have already been pretty busy, completing the signings of Omari Kellyman, Marc Guiu, Tosin Adarabioyo, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, and Renato Veiga for a combined £65million. Next on the agenda for Enzo Maresca’s side is Barcelona and Spain playmaker Fermin. Barcelona ‘reject’ Chelsea bid for star Flick ‘counts on’ According to reports in Spain, Chelsea have bid €35million (£29.
3m) for the 21-year-old, with Barcelona president Joan Laporta pointing the Blues towards the player’s release clause, which is...
€400m (£335m). Indeed, Laporta has ‘rejected Chelsea’s proposal’ as new head coach Hansi Flick ‘intends to count on Fermin’. There is plenty of interest in the young midfielder, as Aston Villa and Manchester United ‘presented an offer a short time ago’.
Laporta has no plans to negotiate the sale of Fermin and will only sell for his release clause, which is deemed ‘a prohibitive figure’. This has allowed Flick to ‘rest easy’, with Chelsea co-owner Boehly viewing Fermin as ‘a luxury reinforcement’. More: Chelsea | Barcelona | Every Premier League transfer completed in the summer of 2024.
