Manchester United’s hopes of signing the “Swedish Messi” have taken a blow with Barcelona reportedly muscling in on the race for Roony Bardghji.
The youngster burst onto United’s radar with a last-gasp winner for FC Copenhagen against Erik ten Hag’s side in the Champions League in 2023, aged just 17.
United’s interest was immediate but died down when the teenager picked up an ACL injury last year, but having returned to fitness and with less than a year left on his contract he is back at the centre of media speculation.
It was reported earlier this week that while the Red Devils are still circling the 19-year-old Tottenham Hotspur are in pole position for the right-winger, who has been dubbed the “Swedish Messi”.
But according to Spanish outlet Fichajes, Barcelona are now ready to get serious about bringing Bardghji on board.
The report claims that the La Liga giants are in “advanced negotiations” for the Swedish prodigy, who they see as “a highly interesting player”.
Their plan would be to have the talented teenager competing with Lamine Yamal for the right-wing position, and to that end there is talk of the club investing between €2m and €3m.
There is no indication of what sort of fee FC Copenhagen are looking for, and while the assumption is that the player could be picked up cheaply there is a chance that a bidding war could ensue and drive the price up.
With all recent reports suggesting that United still hold an interest in Bardghji, INEOS will doubtless be keeping a close eye on proceedings as other clubs join the race.
The 19-year-old nicely fits United’s recent recruitment model of going after promising young talent at low prices which has brought the likes of Chido Obi and Ayden Heaven to Old Trafford, although Bardghji has substantially more top-flight experience.
Due to injury, he only managed six appearances last season, but in 2023/24 he bagged 11 goals in 37 matches as a key man for the Danish side.
Should he make the switch to Barcelona not only will Hansi Flick have pipped Ruben Amorim to the post for an exciting young winger, it would also likely rule out any move they might make for wantaway United winger Marcus Rashford.
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Joe Ponting
Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried.
