Barcelona 'concede defeat in Angelino pursuit'

Die Roten Bullen have welcomed David Raum to the club this summer to bolster their left-back ranks, leaving the future of ex-Manchester City man Angelino up in the air.

The Spaniard was absent from his side's Super Cup defeat to Bayern Munich last weekend, with manager Domenico Tedesco confirming that his reason for missing out was transfer-related.

Angelino is now expected to seek out a new team after the signing of Raum, and Barcelona were tipped to make a move for the 25-year-old as they seek competition for Jordi Alba.

However, AS now reports that Barcelona have been forced to concede defeat in their pursuit of Angelino, who is now on the verge of sealing a switch to Hoffenheim.

The report claims that Angelino's preference was to remain in the Bundesliga, and he is now finalising a switch to the side who sold Raum to Leipzig only a week ago.

Barcelona were supposedly interested in bringing the Spaniard back to his homeland, but their financial situation and wealth of new signings already this summer made a deal unfeasible.

Brighton & Hove Albion and Sevilla are also understood to have been interested in a swoop for Angelino, but Julen Lopetegui's side were in the same boat as Barcelona financially.

Meanwhile, Brighton confirmed the sale of Marc Cucurella to Chelsea in a club-record deal earlier on Friday, leaving Graham Potter with a gap to plug on the left-hand side of his defence.

The Seagulls have managed to strike a loan deal for Chelsea teenager Levi Colwill, but Angelino is set to continue his career in Germany two-and-a-half years after initially joining on loan from Man City.

In that time, Angelino has registered 12 goals and set up 28 more in 98 matches for Die Roten Bullen across all tournaments, including three goals and 13 assists from 45 outings last season.

Angelino will seemingly end his stint at Leipzig having won one trophy in the form of the 2021-22 DFB-Pokal, although he was an unused substitute in the final against Freiburg.

With Cucurella now at Stamford Bridge, Marcos Alonso's departure from Chelsea could now be accelerated, with the 31-year-old due to become a free agent in under 12 months' time.

Alonso has been persistently linked with a move to Barcelona for some months now, and La Blaugrana are now said to have made significant progress in their efforts to sign the Spaniard.

However, Xavi's side will not see their efforts to sign Cesar Azpilicueta bear fruit, as the 32-year-old has now signed a new two-year deal at Chelsea until the summer of 2024.