Barcelona dealt a blow in summer pursuit of Bayern Munich defender

With Barcelona in the market for a new right-back in the summer, Bayern Munich defender Benjamin Pavard has emerged as one of the options for the club.

The 26-year-old Frenchman will be entering the final year of his contract with the Bavarian giants at the end of the season. Furthermore, he had some problems with manager Julian Nagelsmann, which seemed to have sealed his fate.

But, of late, there seems to be a wind of change blowing with regard to Pavard and his future at the Allianz Arena.

Indeed, recent reports suggested that the 2018 FIFA World Cup winner could be open to signing a new contract with the German champions.

Now, manager Nagelsmann has hinted that things have improved between the two while adding that he would very much like to continue working with the versatile defender.

“I like to work as long as possible with players who perform, and he does. The future depends on a lot of things, but we are happy with him,” Nagelsmann said, as quoted by SPORT.

“Benjamin is a very reliable player. He has had a lot of involvement and last season he also performed when things were not so easy,” he added.

As mentioned earlier, Pavard and Nagelsmann had a falling out of sorts not very long ago, which led to the defender deciding to leave. A number of clubs have shown an interest in him, but it was reported that the Frenchman would prioritise a move to Barcelona.

However, things have changed since then and Pavard would be open to renewing his contract with Bayern Munich if he feels the contract proposal is good enough.

The French international’s agent, Pini Zahavi, had visited Barcelona to meet club directors Mateu Alemany and Jordi Cruyff.

And SPORT is claiming that the agent informed Barça how things had gotten complicated with regard to Pavard’s pursuit, with the move now in jeopardy as both the player and Bayern Munich are open to continuing their partnership.