Barcelona’s Dion Lopy interest revealed | OneFootball

The powers that be at Barcelona expressed a keen interest in the signing of a key member of the midfield ranks at La Liga rivals Almería in January.

That’s according to Mundo Deportivo, who have on Thursday provided a fresh insight into developments behind the scenes in Catalunya’s capital.

It is of course common knowledge that Deco and his team of directors identified the base of boss Xavi’s midfield as an area in desperate need of reinforcement with a view to the 2nd half of the season.

This comes amid the ongoing struggles of summer signing Oriol Romeu.

Barca, in turn, made contact over the potential additions of a whole host of midfielders, from Kalvin Phillips to Mats Wieffer.

In the end, however, no such deal was struck, with Xavi having since turned to Andreas Christensen as his new-look pivot.

As revealed by the aforementioned MD, though, amid their January search, another profile was identified as a leading one on the part of the Blaugrana brass.

The player in question? Dion Lopy.

Lopy, for his part, is a 22-year-old defensive midfielder, currently plying his trade with relegation-battling Almería.

Since making the move to Spain from Reims last summer, the Senegal international has proven himself one of few leading lights in an otherwise badly struggling Almería outfit.

And his performances, it would appear, proved enough to pique attentions in the Barcelona boardroom.

Lopy was identified as the ‘best option’ by the Catalans last month, owing to all of his abilities, low wages, and readiness to perform in La Liga with immediate effect.

Upon learning of Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt seeing a €15 million bid rejected by Almería, however, the conclusion was reached that, in fact, the Dakar native was not an affordable mid-season signing.

Conor Laird | GSFN