Liverpool gifted ‘very exciting’ free transfer as ‘world-class’ target is primed to leave Barcelona

Liverpool have been told that Barcelona starlet Gavi is set to leave on a free transfer this summer and they should “take advantage of this situation”.

Gavi is one of the best young players in world football and he has already played 83 times for Barcelona at senior level.

The teenager’s future at the Spanish giants is uncertain at the moment. He penned his first senior contract last September but in January, La Liga prevented Barcelona from registering him as the league’s rules state that Gavi would be classed as a new signing.

GOAL’s Neil Jones has explained that Gavi cannot sign another academy contract in the short term as he is now turned 18. Barcelona “stand to lose him on a free” if they do not find a way around the rules that would enable them to retain the player.

“So, what it is is that he’s a homegrown player on a youth contract but they have to put him on a first-team contract,” Jones said on The Redmen TV.

“Weirdly, when you register a player like this from your academy it counts as a new signing and Barcelona are in this position with the financial rules and selling off assets. It was initially ratified, but the league have appealed against that and have won the case.

“At the moment, Barca stand to lose Gavi on a free. His youth contract expires in the summer, they can’t give him another youth contract because he’s 18 and they can’t give him a first-team contract either.”

and Jones points out that this is a “very exciting story” for the Premier League club.

Jones thinks the signing of Gavi “would be a real game-changer” for Liverpool if it could be completed.

“It’s a very exciting story for Liverpool. I know Manchester City have also been linked and that terrifies me, but a very exciting thing,” Jones added.

“Liverpool were linked last summer and you thought ‘I don’t think there’s any chance.’ But you look now, it’s March and you can get a potentially world-class player for very little and what an opportunity that’s going to be.

“We know that with Barcelona and Real Madrid, clubs like that, there’s a lot of red tape and tricks that get pulled off where they get out of this situation, but we saw it with Messi where they didn’t.

It remains to be seen whether Gavi would actually be open to a move to the Premier League. He has been with Barcelona since he was 11 years old, so it is fair to assume that his preference would be to stay where he is.