“We’ve been monitoring his situation at Chelsea as we don’t have a player of his quality here in Barca, we want to act fast before Real Madrid table a bid for him”- Barcelona manager Xavi claimed that the club is interested in signing Arsenal’s €120 million rated talent who is ‘exploding’ under Pochettino

Chelsea may miss out on signing Gabriel Moscardo to Barcelona, according to a source, since the La Liga champions will make a big push for the midfielder.

Chelsea has already made numerous approaches for Moscardo, who plays for Corinthians. They have not, however, met the asking amount for the 18-year-old. Furthermore, Barcelona has positioned themselves as a contender to provide the defensive midfielder with a road into Europe.

And, according to Diario Sport, Barcelona is now planning to go all-in on Moscardo, having identified him as the ideal long-term replacement for Oriol Romeu at the heart of their engine room.

According to the source, Moscardo is’much better suited’ to how Xavi wants Barcelona to play than ‘the rockiness of Pochettino’s Chelsea’.

With this in mind, Deco, the former Barcelona and Chelsea player who is now the Blaugrana’s sporting director, will try to position the adolescent at one of his former teams rather than the other.

In fact, Deco is said to believe that signing Moscardo is a ‘now or never’ situation for Barcelona, possibly anticipating competition from clubs such as Chelsea and others.

Chelsea’s Todd Boehly era has seen a surge in interest in the Brazilian market. They signed Angelo Gabriel and Deivid Washington from Santos in recent months, after also signing Andrey Santos from Vasco da Gama in the winter.

Meanwhile, Barcelona currently has only one Brazilian player in their squad: former Leeds United winger Raphinha. They do, however, have Vitor Roque on the way from Athletico Paranaense for next summer and could add more of a Samba flavour to their squad if they can get their hands on Moscardo.

Xavi’s other midfield options are Romeu, Frenkie de Jong, Ilkay Gundogan, Gavi and Pedri, as well as versatile captain Sergi Roberto.

However, the holding role is best suited to Romeu, an ex-Chelsea player who returned to Barcelona from Girona in the summer after growing in La Masia.

Moscardo has a long-term future in Barcelona.
And, at 32, Romeu is hardly a long-term solution for Barcelona, who are looking to fill the post with someone they can rely on for years to come.

That could mean more space for Moscardo at Barcelona rather than Chelsea, given that the Blues have signed Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo in successive British record deals this year, as well as Romeo Lavia to the defensive-midfield department.

All three of those players are under the age of 23, so unless they lose their form dramatically, they won’t be pushing Moscardo for a starting spot anytime soon if he becomes their teammate.

Since Chelsea ended in the bottom half of the Premier League last season, Boehly’s scattergun approach in the transfer market has failed to pay off.