Report: Barcelona schedule talks to sign €50 million-rated midfielder

Even as the dust settles on one of the craziest summer transfer windows of all time, Barcelona are gunning ahead with their plans for the future. And, it seems like former academy ace Dani Olmo is at the centre of these plans.

The 23-year-old Spaniard has grown exponentially since leaving the Barcelona youth academy in 2014, signing for Dinamo Zagreb, where he burst onto the senior footballing scenes before earning a big move to RB Leipzig in January last year.

In the meantime, Olmo has also established a foothold in the Spanish national team as well, leading to interest from several top clubs across Europe. However, it is Barcelona that seem the most interested in securing his services.

Indeed, the Catalan giants held talks to re-sign Olmo on the summer transfer deadline day, but a deal was not forthcoming so late. Plans, though, are afoot over a deal to sign the 23-year-old in 2022, with Barca preferring to get a deal over the line as early as January itself.

To that end, the Blaugrana have now scheduled a meeting with RB Leipzig to reopen negotiations over a potential transfer, reports Mundo Deportivo. A move in the winter transfer window, however, could be tricky considering that the German giants are reluctant to lose one of their key players in the middle of the season.

However, the report adds that they would be receptive to offers in the summer as Olmo would have two years left on his contract and they will want to avoid a scenario like the one with Marcel Sabitzer when they had to sell him in a cut-price deal after he entered the final year of his deal.

Barcelona, during their negotiations in the summer, were informed that €75 million to sign Olmo. Leipzig are said to have also made it clear that they will not be entertaining any deals involving bonuses or deferred payments and would want the entire cash upfront. That was said to be another barrier that stopped the deal from happening on deadline day.

It will be interesting to see if the upcoming meeting with Leipzig helps them convince the German outfit to ease their stance on the matter.