Barca winning the race for Dutch international

Barcelona technical secretary, Andoni Zubizarreta admits the club are keeping tabs on PSV captain Ibrahim Afellay.

The Catalans are expected to be pretty active during the winter transfer window with Gabriel Milito set to leave the club, while there will be some new signings as well.

Barcelona have already offered the Argentine to Manchester City and Arsenal, with his place set to be taken by one of the players from the B squad, Marc Bartra, Andreu Fontas or Marc Muniesa.

As far as the arrivals are concerned, Javier Pastore and Luis Suarez remain one of the targets, but it seems that Ibrahim Afellay is the closest to Camp Nou at the moment.

PSV are prepared to sell their most prized asset in January as they could stay empty-handed at the end of the season, when his contract is set to expire, and Andoni Zubizarreta admits Barca are keen.

“He is an excellent player, whose contract is set to expire.”

Afellay himself declared he is ready for the new challenge.

“I feel now is the time to take a step forward. I have had a great time at PSV and I still enjoy playing here, but every footballer wants to prove his worth at the top level.”

[Source: Marca]