Arsenal set to land another Barcelona youngster

We’ve all heard this one before… it happens seemingly every summer. Arsene Wenger is targeting yet another youngster from the Barcelona academy.

The English media are saying that the Gunners are close to sealing the signing of 16-year old Julio Pleguezuelo Selva. Arsenal are expected to land him on the cheap (a compensation fee) as he has yet to sign a contract with Barcelona.

He can play at both right-back and centre-back and has been a target for both Manchester City and Tottenham.

If the deal goes through as expected, it will be the fifth player that Arsene Wenger has brought over from the Barcelona academy. The most successful signing was Cesc Fabregas back in 2003, who progressed to the first-team a year later and eventually went on to captain the club before going back to Barcelona in the summer of 2011.

The next to join was Fran Merida back in 2006. He appeared to be getting a few chances in the first-team in 2009/10 but opted to return to Spain with Atletico Madrid in 2010, much to the anger of Arsenal. Merida is now playing in Brazil.

Jon Toral and Hector Bellerin both made the move in the summer of 2011. Bellerin in particular has impressed in the reserves and in the NextGen Series this season. Perhaps if Bacary Sagna leaves in the summer as expected by many, Bellerin could get a promotion to the first-team to compete with Carl Jenkinson. It wouldn’t shock me.

Arsenal have made a habit of signing Barcelona’s youngsters, whilst Barcelona take our best / first-team players off of us nearly every year.

Arsene Wenger is looking to bring in another Barcelona youngster this summer.