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Barcelona defender Nelson Semedo will join Wolves in a deal worth around 40 million euros, sources confirmed to ESPN.
The 26-year-old Semedo is expected in England in the coming days to finalize his move to the Premier League team, and Barça are also interested in Ajax’s Sergino Dest and Norwich City’s Max Aarons as possible replacements.
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The Wolves have been looking for a right back since they sold Matt Doherty to Tottenham earlier this summer. Barça’s desire to sell Semedo, plus the fact that he is represented by Jorge Mendes, who has a huge influence at Wolves, made the Portuguese international an obvious target.
Barça coach Ronald Koeman has made it clear that he prefers Sergi Roberto to Semedo, and the former played all 90 minutes in Saturday’s friendly against Elche.
Semedo joined Barça from Benfica for an initial € 30 million in 2017, but has never made the right-back role his own, despite making 124 appearances for the club.
Atlético de Madrid came close to signing him last summer, but then-manager Ernesto Valverde vetoed a deal that would have seen him leave the Camp Nou for the Spanish capital.
Barça will seek to use the money raised from the sale of Semedo to strengthen its defense. Dest and Aarons are targets, but sources say the club won’t overpay.
Sources close to Dest have told ESPN that Bayern Munich are leading the pursuit of the American international, while Norwich has so far rejected Barca’s advances by England’s Under-21 international Aarons.
Barça also have hopes of signing Manchester City center-back Eric García, who is out of contract next summer.
The club needed to sell before it could buy and Semedo’s departure will help them with the rebuilding promised by President Josep Maria Bartomeu after the 8-2 Champions League loss to Bayern last month.
Meanwhile, Arturo Vidal is expected to finally complete his move to Inter Milan on Sunday, following midfielder Ivan Rakitic out the door and further helping to reduce the club’s payroll.
