Barça have reached an agreement for Fluminense prospect Gerson
Barcelona have taken an important step towards the signing of Gerson. According to what we know at SPORT, in the recent visit to Rio de Janeiro, Raul Sanllehi and South American secretary Andre Cury closed a deal with the father of the Fluminense player, Marco Antonio Silva. The agreement between the player and Barça is complete.
The proposal states the base salary of the contract, which will extend for five seasons from the 2016/2017 season. Barça are continuing to work with the idea that the 18-year-old central midfielder will be signed next summer, once he has featured at the Olympics in Rio for a side led and captained by Neymar.
Barça have worked diligently this last week. Firstly, they blocked an offer of 16 million euros plus 20% of any future sale from Juventus for the player. Then, in a meeting with Fluminense president Peter Siemsen, they assured that the Tricolor would not pressure Barça to make fresh offers. It must be remembered that in May, the Blaugrana paid 3.2 million euros to secure the right of first refusal for three Fluminense gems: Gerson, who is the priority, central defender Marlon, and striker Kenedy, who has been sold for 10 million euros to Chelsea.
The exit of Kenedy has ensured that the club do not need to raise any more funds through player sale before the coming season. This is no immediate need to sell their main prospect.
Barça have already heard that the player only wants to go to Barcelona. Gerson and his father have expressed this to Raul Sanllehi and Andre Cury. If many other big offers from other clubs arrive, the player will pressure his current club to let him go to Barça. Now the negotiation situation is calm for the Catalan club, who are satisfying Fluminense's interests, and have pushed away Man City and Juve, who were the principal clubs interested in the U20 international's services.
The new board, who will come to power on the 18th of July, will have to close a deal with Fluminense. The signing should cost around 15 to 18 million euros, as well as the 3.2 million euros that Barça paid to secure first refusal. In the event of a transfer, 70% of the money will go to the player's club, with the other 30% heading to an investment company.
