Barca not serious in their bid to lure Sterling from Man City
Barcelona are likely to fail in an attempt to lure Raheem Sterling away from Manchester City in January.
The Catalan giants have made no secret of their desire to sign the England forward, whose game time has been reduced under Pep Guardiola this season.
Sportsmail revealed in 2019 that Xavi had earmarked Sterling as a player he wanted to sign should he ever take over at the Nou Camp and Joan Laporta is now looking at structuring a deal.
Barcelona are yet to open dialogue with City and their current financial constraints make any bid problematic.
Sterling earns up to £300,000 a week at the Etihad Stadium and Barca would be expected to require City to subsidise a percentage of those wages in a loan deal.
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City, who rarely conclude transfer business in the winter window, would be resistant to that idea and want the 26-year-old to sign a new contract as he enters the final 18 months of his current deal.
Guardiola has accepted that they would need to look at Sterling’s situation if does not wish to extend and his representatives brought a sizeable offer to the club’s board.
But Sterling is hoping to force a way back into Guardiola’s preferred XI, with £100million summer signing Jack Grealish starting the majority of matches from the left-hand side thus far. Phil Foden played out there during the dominant 2-0 victory at Manchester United last weekend.
Guardiola travelled to Catalonia while Xavi was unveiled as Ronald Koeman’s successor earlier this week before visiting the training base of City’s sister club Girona.