Inter Milan enquired about three Barcelona defenders during recent meeting – report

Last week, Inter Milan defender Piero Ausilio was spotted at the Barcelona offices where he met with the Catalan club’s counterparts Mateu Alemany and Jordi Cruyff. While the Italian outfit have played down the meeting, reports of possible transfer discussions have been doing the rounds.

Now, SPORT is reporting that Inter Milan, who have been previously linked with Franck Kessie, had enquired about three Barcelona defenders during the meeting with the club last week.

As per the report, the Nerazzurri were interested in gaining information about the situations of Clement Lenglet and Samuel Umtiti, both of whom are away on loan from Barcelona at Tottenham Hotspur and Lecce, respectively.

Along with that the Italian giants also asked about Eric Garcia, who has found it hard to break into Xavi’s plans this season.

The Nerazzurri are looking for reinforcements in defence as Milan Skriniar is set to sign for PSG in the summer while Stefan de Vrij’s future is unclear as well. But they cannot afford to splash a big sum on new signings and hence are looking at players who are likely to be discarded by their current clubs.

However, as things stand, Lenglet’s signing looks tricky for Inter Milan as Tottenham are already in talks with Barcelona to sign the Frenchman on a permanent transfer.

The signing of Garcia will also be complicated as the Spaniard has no intention to leave Barcelona this summer despite his situation. Some reports have even suggested that the 22-year-old could be turned into a defensive midfielder next season.

As for Umtiti, an operation would be possible as long as Inter find an agreement with the player and are willing to pay some fee to the Blaugrana for the Frenchman.

Further negotiations are likely to take place in the future, with Inter expected to propose player-exchange deals to land their targets.