Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Barcelona scouts are present at the South-American under-20 Championship that is played in Venezula these days.
In the first scouting reports the club's sports department has received, two players would stick out: Internacional forward Walter Henrique da Silva (19 - Brazil) and Nacional attacking midfielder Nicolás Lodeiro (19 - Uruguay - picture).
The paper claims that Barcelona is also still interested in Grêmio attacking midfielder Douglas Costa (18 - Brazil) (read more here). Asked about the rumours linking the player to several European top clubs, Douglas' agent César Bottega has said in an interview with Italian football site Calcio Mercato that there's nothing concrete yet: "We didn't yet speak with a club, we only know that several scouts are following him but at this moment there's nothing official."
British tabloid The Daily Mail meanwhile claims that Barcelona is one of the European top clubs that have sent scouts to the tournament to watch Deportivo Anzoátegui left midfielder Carlos Fernández (18 - Venezuela), who is represented by British -based agent Barry Yeubrey.
Watch this video of Walter:
Watch this video of Lodeiro:
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
Barcelona scouting at South-American U20
Sunday, 2 November 2008
Barcelona monitoring Gremio midfielder Douglas
Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Barcelona is one of the European top clubs that are following the performances of Grêmio attacking midfieler and Brazilian youth international Douglas Costa de Souza (18).
In May, César Bottega, the agent of Douglas, handed the Barcelona technical staff a video of the player (read more here).
Douglas, who made his first team debut last month, signed earlier this year a contract renewal with Brazilian first division club Grêmio until 2013, including a buyout clause of 30 million euro° for foreign clubs and 15 million euro for Brazilian clubs (read more here).
Read more:
Youth: Douglas Costa de Souza (Gremio)
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
Barcelona interest got Douglas new Gremio deal
Brazilian blog Gremio1903 claims that the interest of Barcelona and other European top clubs (read more here) was the main reason for his club to renew the contract of Grêmio midfielder and Brazilian youth international Douglas Costa (18) from the moment the player turned eighteen last month.
See Douglas' goal (1-1):
Thursday, 22 May 2008
Youth: Douglas Costa de Souza (Gremio)
Several Brazilian media claim that Barcelona is interested in Grêmio left wing midfielder and Brazilian youth international Douglas (17). He is described by a coach as a player with a great ball handling who is eager to learn. Douglas can also play as attacking midfielder or second striker.
A former team-mate says the following about Douglas: "It's a player who is very technical, very fast, very skillful. He has a great view, knows how to organize the game, has a great pass to assist the forwards. And he works really hard, it's a good guy, very modest. He really enjoys it if he can let others score."
Grêmio general director Rodrigo Caetano, who says he hasn't heard anything from Barcelona, has admitted that the club needs to sell players to keep the financial situation of the club in balance. Rumours go that Douglas would have a buyout clause of around 8 million euro°. Although that has not been confirmed, it is believed that selling Douglas could be the solution to keep several first team regulars at the club.
César Bottega, the agent of the player, said to Brazilian newspaper Zero Hora that Barcelona has been watching Douglas: "Last week I handed them some dvd's about him and Tiago Duarte, who I also represent and who is followed since some time by Villareal. And they are clearly most interested in Douglas." The player has a contract until the end of 2009 and Grêmio wants to renew that until 2013 once Douglas turns 18 in September.
Douglas Costa de Souza is playing for the Juniores team of Grêmio and is expected to be promoted to the first team next season. The midfielder already played for the Brazilian U-20 and is now concentrated with the Brazilian U-19 who will play some friendly games in the coming weeks.
Read more:
Youth: Felipe Coutinho (Vasco da Gama)
Youth: Thiago Alcántara
Youth: Erick Flores (Flamengo)
Read all Youth transfer stories here
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