Barcelona interested in Zaragoza midfielder Ander

Aragon regional sport paper Equipo claims that Barcelona is interested in Zaragoza midfielder and Spanish youth international Ander Herrera (19).

Because of his promotion to and good performances with Zaragoza's first team this season, Ander has been intensely watched by Barcelona coaches over the last month, with Barcelona scout Juli assisting Saturday's game against Celta Vigo. The individual reports about the player are all positive and a global report for Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola is being drawn up at this moment.

The next step could then be contacting the player's agent Arturo Canales and sounding out Zaragoza to know more about the situation of the player, who would have a buyout clause of 4 million euro°. Athletic Bilbao, that made a 3,5 million euro bid for Ander during the January transfer window, would also still be interested.

The paper claims that the Basque midfielder has at this moment a fixed contract that is offered to all the club's promising players, including a year salary of 20 000 euro. Zaragoza is nevertheless planning to offer Ander a contract renewal and has already agreed with the player's agent that the talks will start at the end of the season.

A Zaragoza source is quoted by the sports paper as saying that a transfer is not being considered by the club right now: "We cannot avoid that people come and watch his games and see his quality but Ander won't leave. He's a key player and he's not for sale." Ander's father Pedro Herrera is the sporting director of Zaragoza.

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Watch a video of Ander: