Barcelona considering move for Pablo Maffeo?

Maffeo has become a household name on the island after an intriguing career which has already taken him to England, Germany and many parts of Spain.

The 26-year-old has had four loan spells at Girona across his career, mainly due to him previously being on the books at Manchester City, who sold him to Stuttgart in 2018.

After failing to hit the ground running in Germany, he was then loaned to Girona for the fourth time, before temporary spells at Huesca and Mallorca, who then bought him last summer.

Maffeo made 37 appearances for the club during 2022-23 and now Spanish outlet AS claims that Barcelona are interested in bringing him to Catalonia.

It is believed that the right-back would be available for less than €10m (£8.5m), with Sevilla also throwing their hat in the ring for the player.

Despite sometimes being used as a wing-back and contributing to six goals last season, Maffeo relishes the defensive side of the game and is known for his tight marking and tough tackling.

As a regular in the Mallorca side, they narrowly missed out on Europa Conference League qualification by just three points last season, as Osasuna took seventh place.

A move for Maffeo is reportedly on the table after Barcelona pulled out of pursuing Man City's Joao Cancelo, citing the cost of the deal as being impossible for the club to afford.

Ivan Fresneda was another right-back who has been linked with the La Liga champions, especially after Arsenal ended their interest in him to focus on sealing a deal to sign Jurrien Timber.

The Real Valladolid man would also be a low-cost alternative to Cancelo, but potentially more than Maffeo given his age.

Despite not turning 19 until September, Fresneda has already made 23 top-flight appearances, and helped Spain to the Euro Under-19 semi-finals this month.