Serie A side in talks with Barcelona for La Masia centre-back | OneFootball

After having reached full agreement to loan Clement Lenglet out to Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona will look to move on their other out of players at the earliest possible as they continue to look for ways to trim down their wage bill.

Oscar Mingueza is one such player who does not feature in the plans of manager Xavi Hernandez moving forward.

And, as reported by Gianluca Di Marzio (h/t Fabrizio Romano), newly-promoted Serie A outfit Monza are interested in signing Mingueza from Barcelona and are in talks with the La Liga giants to reach an agreement over a transfer.

A product of the club’s famed La Masia youth setup, the 23-year-old was handed his senior breakthrough in the 2020/21 campaign by Ronald Koeman and he grasped his opportunity with both hands.

However, Mingueza failed to keep up those levels in the season gone by and hardly featured for the Blaugrana once Xavi Hernandez took over the reins of the team.

Indeed, the 23-year-old was used just 14 times by Xavi, of which only six were from the start. With Barcelona close to signing Andreas Christensen and pushing for Jules Kounde, it would be impossible for Mingueza to play regularly at Camp Nou.

An exit has been in the works for a while now, with clubs from within La Liga showing an interest. Now, though, the La Masia graduate is reported to be attracting admirers from Italy.

Having earned promotion to the top-flight, Monza are planning some ambitious moves, including targeting PSG striker Mauro Icardi. And, Mingueza is believed to have come up as a transfer target for the Italian outfit.

As iterated earlier, Barcelona are very much open to the prospect of selling the 23-year-old versatile defender. However, it will be up to Mingueza to decide whether he wishes to continue in Spain by joining a different La Liga side or move to Italy.