The 2017 winter transfer window has been fairly quiet with no major moves happening. However, the transfer talks are pointing to Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic joining Manchester City very soon. Will it happen before the transfer window ends on January 31?
Rakitic has fallen out of favor in Barcelona this season and his best move might be joining a different club. According to The Guardian, Manchester City has expressed interest in signing the Croatian midfielder. The report noted that City looks at Rakitic as the successor to Yaya Toure.
Pep Guardiola's club has been linked with Monaco's Tiemoué Bakayoko but rivals Manchester United are favored to land him. That leaves them the opportunity to sign Rakitic, who joined Barcelona in 2014 but has been left on the bench by Luis Enrique this season.
Enrique has favored summer signings Andre Gomes and Denis Suarez over the 28-year-old midfielder. It has led Rakitic to make his fondness with Guardiola public. He claimed last November that he wore the No. 4 jersey because of the former Barcelona player and manager, per The Sun.
Local newspapers in Croatia have been hinting that Rakitic will move to Manchester City soon. And to add fuel to the transfer rumors, Enrique benched Rakitic in their game against Villarreal on Sunday because of "technical reasons."
However, the Barcelona manager played down the transfer rumors about Rakitic. He told the media after the Villarreal game that only 25 percent of rumors are true. And as for benching the midfielder, he exclaimed that it's part of his job.
"It's up to me to decide the squads and the teams. That's my job. 'What's been published has nothing to do with that. Only 25 percent of things are true, be it in the Croatian, Spanish, England, Italian media," Enrique said, via The Daily Mail.
Besides Manchester City, Rakitic has been linked with big teams such as Juventus, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United. On the other hand, Barcelona would like to recoup the €18 million fee they used to buy Rakitic from Sevilla back in 2014.
