According to Spanish publication Fichajes, Spanish giants FC Barcelona are one of the clubs who are interested in signing Leicester City defender Wout Faes.
Barcelona have some very able-bodied defenders in the form of Eric Garcia, Clément Lenglet, Chadi Riad, Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo and Christensen but due to the need for funds, the club is now planning to offload some important players and there are rumours that Deco is ready to listen to offers for the likes of Kounde and Araujo, both of whom are some of the most valuable players in their squad.
If Barca are to get rid of such important defenders they will have to bring in appropriate replacements before the 24/25 seasons begins and by the looks of it, Wout Faes might be one of the preferred targets for Hansi Flick.
Who is Wout Faes and will he end up joining Barcelona?
Wout Faes spent most of his youth career in Belgium before joining Leicester City in 2022 from Reims for a fee of around €17 million. Since then, the central defender has played 82 games across all competitions.
This past season, he featured in 43 Championship games for Leicester with a rating of 7.3 out of 10. He made 217 recovery runs along with 59 interceptions and during the 3,825 of league football, he was dribbled past just 13 times.
Vanhoomissen, who coached Faes from under-12s to under-14s level and also worked with one Romelu Lukaku had this to say back when Wout Faes was joining Leicester City.
He said: “The first time I saw him play, I knew he was destined to play at the top. He was unmatched at that age. I have rarely seen anyone with that mentality in all the youth teams I have coached.
“What really stood out was his strong personality, especially at that age. He was quickly appointed as team captain. He had very good defensive qualities but on top of that, he had excellent technical abilities for a central defender. He was extremely disciplined, even at that age. Even at 12, he was very professional. He was really an example for the rest of the team and any young players who wanted to take a step towards professional football.”
He was one of Leicester City’s best players last season in the Championship but whether he will fit into Barcelona’s setup or not still cannot be determined. However, one of the major reasons why Barca are keeping tabs on him is not because of his talent but because the 26-year-old is valued at only €20 million. The Catalans need to patch up several problematic departments in their squad so they might not have the money to spend €60-70 million on a new central defender.
In such a scenario, a €20 million Wout Faes would be the ideal substitute and backup to the first-choice centre-backs for a couple of seasons. Given that the Foxes are willing to do business, Barcelona won’t have to spend more than €45-45 million to bring the defender on board.
Having said, that, we don’t think Hansi Flick or Deco consider Faes as a priority target right now and only when they have exhausted all their options will they go after the Leicester City defender.
