Barcelona to use “Mbappe formula” to sign Cesar Azpilicueta from Chelsea | OneFootball

The whispers about Cesar Azpilicueta moving to Barcelona are really ramping up now, and today El Nacional had a full exclusive about it from Laura Alonso (no relation).

She claims that the Catalian giants are going to use the “Mbappe formula” to get a deal done. If you’re wondering what that is, it apparently just means persuading a player in January to sign on a free transfer in the summer – based on the assumption that Real Madrid are doing just that with Mbappe.

Azpi is a club hero and we are desperate to keep him – but even we admit that comparing him to Mbappe is a little generous. If we were a Barcelona fan who had watched Luiz Suarez, Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann and a host of other stars walk away in the last couple of years, we might want more than a right back in his late 30s to replace them.