The money it would cost FC Barcelona to sign one of the best midfielders in the Euro Cup

FC Barcelona is prioritizing right now reinforcing the attack, with Dani Olmo and Nico Williams as top targets. The midfield, which a few months ago seemed to be the area of ​​the field that most needed improvement, has now taken a backseat. The club considers that with Frenkie de Jong, Pedri, Gündogan, the recovery of Gavi, the 'letter' of Christensen, perhaps Olmo himself, Fermín López and if they end up staying with Oriol Romeu and Pablo Torre, the three positions are covered enough to not spend too much.

However, despite this, the reality is that De Jong and Pedri have been having very common physical problems for years, that Gündogan is already old and that Romeu does not seem to measure up. Furthermore, Christensen, who with Xavi Hernández performed well there, continues to seem more like an emergency solution than a long-term one. Furthermore, Gavi will surely take a while to return to his best level and Torre has not yet had a good entire season in the elite. For all this, the signing of a midfielder who can play in the pivot could be more necessary than Barça suggests.

In this context, the Blaugrana have one of the best midfielders from the last Euro Cup within reach. This is N'Golo Kanté, who since he stood out in the heroic Premier League that Leicester won and until just a couple of years ago has been one of the best midfielders in Europe. After winning everything and seeing that Chelsea was no longer performing at its usual level, the Frenchman decided to accept an offer from Arabia in 2023 to play for Karim Benzema's Al-Ittihad.

Kanté is still a high-level midfielder

But the Frenchman is a born competitor and at 33 years old he has realized that he does not want to play the next few years of his career in the poor Arab league. He has a prodigious physique, a lot of character and in the Euro Cup he showed himself and everyone that he still has the level and football to stand out in one of the big leagues. He was one of the best of the poor French team and Deschamps trusted him throughout the tournament as indisputable. For this reason, he is willing to give up his millionaire salary in Arabia to return to the continent.

In this sense, West Ham wants to take advantage of the opportunity and sign him, which is why they have already offered 23 million euros for him. However, the Saudi club does not want to let its star leave for less than 35, so everything could be closed for an intermediate figure, around 30. Therefore, Barça could have this great veteran midfielder for that amount. Taking into account his age, he is not cheap at all, but physically he is still in very good condition and if he accepts a not very high salary the expense could be worth it, since the feeling is that he still has at least a couple of seasons or three more at a great level.

Cases like that of Luka Modric with Madrid, who from the age of 35 to 37, when his level began to drop further, continued to give great performance, invite us to be optimistic with someone like Kanté, who is physically theoretically superior to the Croatian. Now it remains to be seen if Barcelona decides to explore this route, especially if the Nico Williams deal does not go ahead, or if it does not want to take a risk with someone so veteran and who would not exactly arrive for free.