Barcelona admits following Hernanes for months

Asked about the rumours linking Barcelona with the player (read more here), Barcelona sports vice president Marc Ingla has confirmed in an interview with Catalan radio station Catalunya Ràdio that Barcelona is interested in São Paulo attacking midfielder and Brazilian international Hernanes (23): "We are interested. We think the player has enough quality to move to Europe. We're on the case, we know the player and we're following him for several months now."

Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain is today in Brazil and will have contacts on a transfer (read more here). While Barcelona would already have closed a deal with sports marketing agency Traffic, who represents Hernanes, an agreement with São Paulo doesn't seem close.

Asked about the transfer of Hernanes, São Paulo president Juvenal Juvêncio said in an interview with Catalan radio station RAC 1 that his club is at this moment not willing to negotiate: "The papers are talking about an offer of 11 million euro° but São Paulo won't negotiate for less than the buyout fee of 25 million euro°."

A representative of Traffic says in a reaction to Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo that the bid is nevertheless fair: "No Brazilian midfielder or no player of over 23 years old has ever been sold for more than 9 million euro. So how can it be that Barcelona is now offering 11 million euro° and São Paulo thinks that's not enough?"

Brazilian sports site Lancenet claims that Traffic, who also ownes 17 per cent of the transfer rights on the player, has set up the operation without getting São Paulo involved from the beginning. This would have upset the Brazilian club.

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Barcelona will pay 25 million euro° for Hernanes and São Paulo central defender Alex Silva (read more here).

Read more:
Tomorrow new talks on Hernanes
Hernanes confirms Barcelona offer
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