Negotiations on Henrique ongoing but unclear

Asked about how things stand regarding the interest of Barcelona in Palmeiras central defender and Brazilian international Henrique Adriano Buss (21) (read more here), the player's agent Marcos Malaquias has said in an interview with Brazilian news agency Gazeta Press that they are waiting for a concrete offer in the coming weeks:

"We met with Barcelona officials and they showed a clear interest. We keep on talking and we'll see how things go. We have made progress and now we're waiting for the official offer to come, like they have promised. When the offer comes, we will talk with the owner Traffic and his club Palmeiras."

Traffic representative André Cury meanwhile said to the news agency that sport marketing agency Traffic, who ownes the transfer rights of Henrique, has received an 8 million euro° bid from Dutch club Ajax Amsterdam. The bid will be discussed with Palmeiras soon. Henrique has a contract with Palmeiras until the end of this year.

It is believed that all Brazilian parties involved would prefer to postpone a deal until the Brazilian olympic selection has been announced. If Henrique is selected and plays a good olympic tournament, it can be expected that his price will rise.

Naor Malaquias, the player's other agent, seemed nevertheless to suggest to Brazilian journalists that an agreement on the transfer of Henrique could be reached in the coming days: "We had a meeting with Barcelona representatives a few days ago and the talks are very well-advanced. Now we only need to talk to Palmeiras to look at the situation and then we could make a decision later this week."

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