Barcelona and Real Madrid joined Chelsea in the race to sign 19-year-old Russian midfielder in January

Barcelona and Real Madrid joined Chelsea in the race to sign 19-year-old Russian midfielder in January.

Barcelona spent a lot of money this past summer on high-profile players, but they didn’t neglect their efforts to recruit young players.

At Barça, talented young players like Pablo Torre, Emre Demir, and Nil Ruiz among others have come and are presently playing for the reserve squad. Arsen Zakharyan, a midfielder for Dynamo Moscow and Russia, is the target now, according to SPORT.

The 19-year-old midfielder is regarded as one of the most promising young players in Russian football and has already caught the attention of numerous elite clubs.

In fact, Chelsea came quite close to acquiring his services during the recently closed transfer season, and they will likely pursue him again when the next opening arises.

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They will now have to deal with extra Barcelona attention, as well as Real Madrid, the Catalans’ bitter rivals, who are also interested in signing Zakharyan.

The 19-year-old attacking midfielder has made 55 appearances for his club in all competitions, with 13 goals and 16 assists. He also made his national team debut for Russia in September of last year, and he has already received four caps.

In January of last year, Zakharyan renewed his contract with Dynamo Moscow, which was set to expire in 2024. His performances have impressed Barcelona’s scouts, and because he will reach the final year of his contract next summer, they are keeping an eye on him.

However, given that they had already laid out all the groundwork for the deal this past summer, Chelsea still leads Barcelona and Real Madrid in the race for Zakharyan.

It remains to be seen if Barça can persuade the young Russian international to reject interest from the Premier League team and relocate to Catalonia instead.

In the competition to sign 17-year-old Australian attacking prodigy Garang Kuol, Barcelona and Chelsea are also involved.