Chelsea forward Willian: Barcelona interest can wait until after World Cup

ESPN FC’s Brian McBride breaks down Brazil’s round of 16 win over Mexico with Alexis Nunes, and wonders where Juan Carlos Osorio and El Tri go from here.

ESPN FC’s Shaka Hislop feels Willian’s future is dependent upon who is in charge of Chelsea next season.

Willian doesn’t know if Barcelona want to sign him this summer but says now is not the time to talk about his future as he prefers for Brazil’s World Cup quarterfinal against Belgium on Friday.

The Chelsea forward, 29, is “crazy” about forcing through a move to Barca this summer, according to Mundo Deportivo, who add that Chelsea have quoted the La Liga champions €80 million.

However, there are unlikely to be any developments until Brazil’s participation in the World Cup is over.

“People speculate a lot and we see a lot of things on the Internet but this is not the time to talk about this,” Willian said in a news conference.

“I’ve not received any information about whether [Barca’s interest] is true. I’m trying to focus on the national team at the moment.”

Any move for Willian would be conditioned by the future of other players in the Barca squad as they already have their full quota of non-EU players.

La Liga rules limit clubs to just three non-EU passport holders and Barca have Philippe Coutinho, Paulinho and Yerry Mina taking up those spots.

The Catalan club are also expected to fast-track the signing of Brazilian midfielder Arthur Melo from Gremio in the next few days, with a transfer originally planned for January.

If they signed Arthur and Willian, that would leave Barca needing to shift two of Coutinho, Paulinho and Mina.

All three players have joined the club in the last year but while record signing Coutinho will not be sold, Paulinho and Mina have been linked with moves away.

Diario AS claim that Paulinho is the subject of a €50m bid from a Chinese club, while Fenerbahce have reportedly offered €30m for Mina.

Mina, though, maintains that he doesn’t want to leave Camp Nou having only joined from Palmeiras in January and his uncle, who is also his agent, says there are no offers for the Colombia World Cup star.

“I’m not aware of any bids,” Jair Mina told RAC1. “The player has a contract with Barcelona and wants to stay at Barcelona. We’re going to see what the situation is with the club, but we don’t have any information [regarding a move].

“[Mina] moved in January to succeed at a big club and Barça are a big club. He is convinced he will get the chance to do big things and our idea is that he stays where he is.”

Mina starred in Russia this summer, scoring three goals in three appearances before Colombia were knocked out in the round of 16 by England earlier this week.

However, Diario Sport report that his World Cup displays haven’t changed Barca’s plans, with the club keen to loan him out to gain more experience in European football.

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