{"id":71119,"date":"2026-08-16T07:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T07:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/71119\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T07:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T07:52:10","slug":"barcelona-join-real-madrid-and-atletico-in-race-for-e60m-midfield-talent-who-dreams-of-catalan-giants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/71119\/","title":{"rendered":"Barcelona join Real Madrid and Atletico in race for \u20ac60m midfield talent who dreams of Catalan giants"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barcelona already have a stacked first-team midfield with the likes of Frenkie de Jong, Pedri, Gavi, Marc Bernal, Dani Olmo and Fermin Lopez.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is also a pipeline of midfielders coming through La Masia, like Guille Fernandez, Brian Farinas and Oriol Goren, who all seem to have the talent to make it to the first team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To add even more firepower, especially to their defensive midfield, <a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/report-the-condition-deco-laid-down-for-barcelona-to-move-for-man-city-heavyweight\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Bar\u00e7a are also in negotiations<\/a> to try to sign Rodri from Manchester City.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 30-year-old World Cup winner would transform Bar\u00e7a\u2019s midfield from a very good one to potentially Champions League-worthy, and negotiations are in full swing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite all this, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/as.com\/futbol\/smit-entra-en-escena-f202608-n\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">AS<\/a>, Bar\u00e7a have positioned themselves in the race to sign talented Dutch midfielder Kees Smit.<\/p>\n<p>Barcelona keeping tabs on Kees Smit<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report mentions that Bar\u00e7a are just monitoring the situation and that any serious pursuit will ultimately depend on the Rodri deal\u2019s outcome.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid are also interested in signing the 20-year-old, whose agent is Jorge Mendes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smit has been considered one of the brightest midfield prospects in Dutch football for several years.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/az-alkmaar-v-nec-nijmegen-dutch-knvb-beker-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Kees Smit, AZ Alkmaar player\" class=\"wp-image-209304\"  \/>Kees Smit is back on Barcelona\u2019s radar. (Photo by Alex Bierens de Haan\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His reputation grew significantly during AZ\u2019s 2023 UEFA Youth League triumph, and he has since established himself at senior level.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The midfielder\u2019s ability to use both feet, combine in tight areas and break opposition lines has attracted attention from Spain\u2019s biggest clubs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Atletico already attempted to sign him during the previous winter window, while Real Madrid have Smit on their radar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Bar\u00e7a, if they manage to sign Rodri, making another major midfield investment would be difficult to imagine this summer, particularly with Smit\u2019s valuation potentially reaching around \u20ac60 million.<\/p>\n<p>Smit has already made his Barcelona preference clear<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is, however, an intriguing detail working in Bar\u00e7a\u2019s favour should they eventually decide to pursue him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smit has openly <a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/real-madrid-target-compared-to-pedri-names-barcelona-as-his-favourite-club-i-watch-almost-every-match\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">described himself as a Barcelona supporter<\/a> and previously revealed that he follows the club closely, saying he watches almost every match.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The youngster has also previously left the door open to a future move to Catalonia, indicating that he <a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/promising-midfielder-opens-doors-to-barcelona-move-if-they-ask-me-to-negotiate-im-totally-willing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">would be willing to listen<\/a> if Barcelona approached him for negotiations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The player has also reiterated that Pedri and Frenkie de Jong are two of his favourite players to watch every game.<\/p>\n<p>A 2027 move could make more sense for Bar\u00e7a<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/az-alkmaar-v-nec-nijmegen-dutch-knvb-beker-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-209303\"  \/>Kees Smit has already expressed his desire to play for Barcelona. (Photo by Alex Bierens de Haan\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Perhaps the most interesting element of the situation is that Smit does not necessarily need to leave AZ immediately.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Dutchman is open to spending another season with his current club, where regular football would allow him to continue developing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One possibility would even involve agreeing a transfer ahead of the 2027-28 campaign. From Barcelona\u2019s perspective, that timeline could be far more attractive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rodri is the priority today, while Bar\u00e7a already possess considerable young midfield talent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is little reason to spend heavily on Smit simply because Madrid and Atletico are interested.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, a player of his profile, age and technical qualities is certainly worth monitoring, particularly when he has already made his affection for Barcelona clear.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For now, Rodri comes first. Smit, however, could quickly become a name worth remembering for the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barcelona already have a stacked first-team midfield with the likes of Frenkie de Jong, Pedri, Gavi, Marc Bernal,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[179,92,222,223,2412,82,83],"class_list":["post-71119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-madrid","tag-atletico-madrid","tag-barcelona","tag-barcelona-news","tag-fc-barcelona","tag-kees-smit","tag-madrid","tag-real-madrid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}