Valencia CF president Anil Murthy has spoken about the club's current situation in an interview with Superdeporte. His comments on Rodrigo Moreno, as well as the financial situation at Mestalla, will have caught the attention of Barça.
The Spanish striker has a €120m buyout clause but Valencia would be willing to negotiate a lesser fee. This is because they need to bring in €30m before the first week of July in order to balance last season's books.
However they don't want to "give away" or sell Rodrigo "on the cheap" but the financial needs might take precedent.
Barça are keen to hear what Valencia's plans for Rodrigo might be as it's clear they want to improve their striking options for next season. It's important Luis Suarez is allowed a rest and Valverde wants a more established alternative, not another 'Boateng' stop-gap.
Denis Suarez could be included in a deal as Marcelino is a huge admirer of the midfielder after they crossed paths at Villarreal.
Rodrigo ticks all the boxes for what Barça are looking for and will wait and see what the situation is like closer to that all important cut-off date.
One of the concerns for Valencia last season was the lack of goals throughout the side and Murthy said: "We need to score a lot of goals next season."
Alternatives to Rodrigo include Celta Vigo's Maxi Gomez, who appears close to signing for los Che. "There are a lot of combinations we could look at. I believe Valencia have spoken to a lot of players."
With Antoine Griezmann set to sign, and potentially Rodrigo too, that would mean there'd be at least one or two big names from Barça's attack leaving the Camp Nou this summer.
kecekouz
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Normally clubs replace an ageing striker with a much younger player with class. You say you don't want a stop gap player like Boateng, well stop gaps can come in 2 ways - In performance (Boateng) and in Age ( Griezmann and Rodrigo). These 2 are already 28yrs will give us at most 5 seasons and then we're back to seeking a replacement. We should be trying to reduce the age of the squad not make it look even more glorious....Sane, Pepe, Joao Felix, VanDeBeek are the players we should be targeting considering the amounts we're willing to pay for Rodrigo and Griezmann. What Management schools did the board members attend for crying out loud!