Rumor Round-up: Oriol, Firpo, Rakitic, Vidal

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A look at the latest transfer rumors involving Barça players

Oriol Busquets set to leave Barça on loan

After playing as a right-back in preseason, Barcelona midfielder Oriol Busquets is set to leave the club on loan in the next few weeks, according to SPORT. Both the player and the club think it’s a better option to loan him out than have him play in the Third Division, and at least four European clubs have expressed interest: Granada and Mallorca want to keep him in La Liga, while Borussia Mönchengladbach and Sassuolo want to take him for a season in Germany and Italy, respectively.

All four clubs want an option to buy Busquets after a year, but both Barça and Oriol have no interest in parting ways anytime soon and a straight-up loan is the only offer the Blaugrana will accept. With many teams already interested and more to come, Oriol’s departure is only a matter of time.

No progress on Junior Firpo negotiations

Barcelona and Real Betis seemed to be closing in on a deal for left-back Junior Firpo, but over the last few hours the talks have stalled a little bit. Mundo Deportivo say Barça CEO Óscar Grau met with Betis director Federico Martínez for an informal chat, and neither was very optimistic after the meeting. In terms of actual negotiations, Betis first asked for 20 million euros plus seven in bonuses, with Barça countering with 18 million plus five. Betis then asked for 25 million with no bonuses, and Barça’s counter was 20 million.

Firpo wants to join Barça and his agent met with Éric Abidal, and they seem optimistic that a deal will be done. There is no rush from either club with two weeks still to go until the start of the league season, and the two teams are willing to keep talking until they reach a good deal for both sides.

Antonio Conte wants Rakitic and Vidal at Inter

The new Inter Milan manager is really keen on Arturo Vidal, but with Radja Nainggolan and João Mário on the way out Conte wants a second Barça midfielder on his squad: Ivan Rakitic. Tuttosport in Italy reckon that Rakitic is willing to leave and Inter has been rumored as a destination for over a year now. Other reports say that Vidal is untouchable but Rakitic can leave with a good offer, so if Conte strikes out on the Chilean then the Croatian would be the most logical consolation prize.

Source: barcablaugranes.com