90min

Barcelona Target Clement Lenglet Meets With Sevilla Ahead of Proposed Move to Join La Liga Champions

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​​Barcelona defensive target Clement Lenglet has met with Sevilla ahead of the Frenchman's proposed move to join the Blaugrana, although his current club aren't willing to let the 22-year-old depart the club without a fight.

Sevilla have offered Lenglet a contract extension to tempt him to stay at the club amid interest from Barça. However, a switch to join the reigning Spanish champions is still a very real possibility, as reported by Spanish news outlet ​Marca.

The proposed move to join Barcelona comes amidst the emergence of a potential defensive problem for the Catalan side, with only Gerard Pique guaranteed to be at the club at the start of the 2018/19 campaign.

Lenglet's compatriot Samuel Umtiti remains locked in contract talks with Barça, with the Barça hierarchy keen to extend the 24-year-old's contract. However, both Thomas Vermaelen and Yerry Mina's futures at the club look uncertain.

Vermaelen currently only has one year remaining on his contract at the Nou Camp, and if a good enough offer were to come in for the Belgian, he would be allowed to leave the club. As for Yerry Mina, ​the young Colombian only joined the club in January, but is yet to work his way into Ernesto Valverde's plans and may be moved out (at least on loan) to free up another berth for a non-European player.

As such, there's currently a void at the heart of Barcelona's defence that Lenglet could be set to fill. However, the young Frenchman has given his word to Sevilla that he will listen to what they have to offer him before he makes a definitive decision regarding his future.

However, once Lenglet has heard out his current club, he will announce whether or not he will stay at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium beyond the current transfer window.

Should he choose to leave, Barcelona may have to act fast if they want to secure his services at a cut rate price, as his current release clause is set at €30m, although that figure is set to rise to €35m in July and €40m in the final days of August.