Barcelona's strategy to sign Arsenal right-back Hector Bellerin

Barcelona have now marked out the lines to follow to sign Hector Bellerin. The club's first step was to find out the player's disposition to return home. From there, Bellerin remains to the side of any negotiations and Barça must sit down with Arsenal, a club they have dealt with regarding many transfers, such as Cesc Fabregas. 

What's the next step? To present their first offer to the Premier League squad, although not one close to the 40 million euros they want. It would be suicide to go into the negotiations in such a weak position. If Barça went in at 40 million euros, they know the immediate response would be for 60 million euros or maybe even more. For that reason, Barça will present a relatively low offer. 

So it would not be surprising if the Blaugrana put forward an offer of around 25 million euros, knowing that Arsenal will ask for much more. That is the way the English side's executive director Ivan Gazidis works. He is a very hard nut to crack and carries the economic weight in the negotiations. For Barça, Raül Sanllehí is the key figure in terms of the talks and he could travel to London to break the ice.

Arsene Wenger is the one who decides the sporting side of things and Gazidis the economic side. It's a bicephaly which has been running since 2008 and continues to this day. Wenger will give his opinion once Barça present an offer. Then he will decide on the convenience of selling the player based on the shortcomings of the squad and the ability to make money to sign reinforcements. Until then, the French coach is on the sidelines and Bellerin, of course, will not talk to his coach. The player is preparing the U21 European Championships and is only focused on playing -- he will keep out of everything else for now.

Barça know things will drag on. The signing of Fabregas came after 300 official letters were exchanged, including offers and counter-offers. History will repeat itself. The club will act with patience, knwoing that Arsenal will prolong the talks in an attempt to wear them down.  However, Barça are aware of this and will take things step by step, only gradually increasing their offer until Arsenal, they hope, are left with no option but to sell the right-back.