Tottenham Hotspur are pushing to try and sign Pedro Porro from Sporting Clube de Portugal before the end of the January transfer window, and Sporting could look to replace the full-back with former Arsenal star Hector Bellerin if they decide to sell.
David Ornstein reports for The Athletic that Sporting are exploring a move for Barcelona defender Bellerin, and the player is open to the move.
So far, that hasn’t been any contact between Sporting and Barcelona, and there has been no breakthrough in talks between Sporting and Spurs.
Sporting have already had one avenue closed by Brighton’s refusal to sell Tariq Lamptey as a potential replacement.
A move for Bellerin could be more realistic, given the right-back’s limited minutes with Barcelona. He’s only made seven appearances for the club this season, for a total of 494 minutes on the pitch.
You can see why Bellerin might be keen to move on and play regularly, and why Barcelona would be open to letting him leave.
Barcelona’s financial difficulties are well documented, so any opportunity to turn a quick profit would likely be looked on favourably.
Arsenal fans won’t be so happy at the idea of one of their former players being used to help Spurs land one of their transfer targets.
But if it’s the best thing for Bellerin, with Spurs currently sitting 14 points behind the Gunners having played two games more, that angle can probably be overlooked.
