Barcelona Willing To Sell Most-Valuable La Liga Star, Worth $102M, Amid Liverpool Interest: Reports

FC Barcelona are reportedly willing to sell midfielder Frenkie de Jong and Liverpool FC are interested in signing the Dutchman.

Considered one of the best talents in the current pool of midfielders, De Jong is contracted with Barcelona until 2026. Barcelona are looking to raise funds by selling De Jong and are expecting to receive big offers for him from top European clubs, reported Spanish publication Diario AS.

De Jong, whose current market value is around $102 million, is the most valued player at present in La Liga, according to Transfermarkt.

However, Barcelona, which is in desperate need of funds ahead of the upcoming transfer windows, are ready to accept offers from $78 million for De Jong, according to Teamtalk.

It has been reported that although new head coach Xavi Hernandez is in no hurry to make new signings, the club has set a budget of less than $11 million for the winter window in January.

Xavi reportedly rates upcoming midfielders Pedri and Gavi highly and believes they can fill in any gap created by De Jong's departure. De Jong, who moved from Ajax to Barcelona in 2019, is not having the best of the seasons in 2021-22 because of poor form and injuries.

Liverpool failed to cover the gap created by Gini Wijnaldum's exit this summer. The Netherlands national, who was a core part of the Reds side that won four trophies between 2019 and 2020, left Anfield to join Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) on a free transfer during the 2021 summer market.

Liverpool's sporting director, Michael Edwards, is believed to be seeing De Jong's move to Anfield as an excellent parting gift as he is set to leave the club after being associated with it for a decade. Xavi could use the cash from De Jong's transfer to sign either Raheem Sterling from Manchester City or RB Leipzig's Dani Olmo.

Liverpool could have stiff competition from Manchester City in the race to sign De Jong. It was previously reported that considering Barcelona's interest in Sterling, the Etihad side has asked the Catalans to include De Jong as a part of a swap deal for the Englishman.

Meanwhile, Barcelona are also looking to land RB Salzburg striker Karim Adeyemi as Xavi has been an admirer of the German teenage sensation. The Camp Nou side is expected to approach the Austrian club this week with an offer of around $45 million for Adeyemi.