Barca confirm Mathieu bid in centre- back pursuit

Andoni Zubizarreta has
confirmed that Barcelona
have submitted an offer for
Valencia centre-back
Jeremy Mathieu as the club
step up their centre-back
pursuit.
Valencia are reported to want €20 million for the
Frenchman, who at 30 years old would hardly
represent a long-term solution to the void left by
Carles Puyol’s exit but would patch up the defensive
gaps somewhat.
With Luis Suarez, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Claudio
Bravo and Ivan Rakitic already in the bag this
summer, the club’s sporting director stressed than
Barca’s first priority now is to sign a central defender
but conceded that many other top clubs are in the
same boat.
“Valencia already know our offer and we want to
maintain privacy in the negotiations,” Zubizarreta told
reporters on Wednesday. “Of course we have other
alternatives if this falls through.
“Hopefully by La Liga’s start we have that centre-
back position covered. If we wanted a centre-back
before now, we would have signed one.
“We want someone who can put in top performances
for many years and that’s what we’re working on.
“Signing is a centre-back is an objective for 80-90
per cent of the major European clubs so it not only
depends on what we want to do – the exception is
David Luiz to Paris Saint-Germain, that’s the only real
major movement in this regard.”