We first heard of Barcelona’s interest in João Pedro some weeks ago, and at the time, it seemed pretty clear that Chelsea had no intention in letting our leading goalscorer leave, nor was JP himself interested in doing so. And according to most reports, that remains the case as things stand.
UPDATE: In fact, Ben Jacobs reports that not even a “world record bid” would change Chelsea’s minds. That’s €222m-plus, to be specific.
But Barcelona are not giving up. Their sporting director, Deco has made another highly publicized trip to London in recent days, apparently to chat up the striker’s camp and try to convince them that the grass is greener in Catalonia.
Upon touchdown on his return home, Deco gave a brief update on his “mission”, seemingly keeping hope alive that Barca will extricate João Pedro from the chaos and misery and non-Champions League-ness of his Chelsea situation.
“We’re working, we’re going to bring in some players. For now we can’t say anything about Joao Pedro, we’re interested in several players. We haven’t spoken to the clubs yet.”
-Deco; source: El Chiringuito via Barca Blaugranes
So, basically, this saga is just beginning.