Barcelona to scout 2 Monaco players during Champions League clash

Barcelona have been tipped to use Thursday night's Champions League clash with Monaco as an opportunity to scout two of Ligue 1 club's defenders with a view to the January transfer window.

The Catalans released Marcos Alonso during the summer and opted against a formal pursuit of former loanee Joao Cancelo on cost grounds, without bringing in replacements. Instead, coach Hansi Flick has promoted from within: Gerard Martin and Hector Fort.

But SPORT writes that the Barcelona hierarchy still wish to target recruits at right-back and left-back to strengthen in the winter window, all the while continuing to offer chances to home-grown talent.

Henrique, 27 years of age and with a contract at Monaco for three more seasons, is left-sided. Meanwhile, Vanderson is the right-back. He is younger at 23 and is contracted until 2028.

Barcelona have been in for both players in the past. Henrique was a target for former sporting director Mateu Alemany in 2022 but Monaco were not willing to sell. Similarly, Deco - in his previous role as an adviser to president Joan Laporta - was on the tail of Vanderson a few months earlier. The defender was leaving Gremio in his native Brazil but had already agreed to join Monaco.

There is also seemingly a clue that Monaco are preparing themselves to sell both Henrique and Vanderson, having signed would-be replacements in recent times. Jordan Teze joined from PSV Eindhoven in August, while Kassoum Ouattara was recruited from Amiens ten months ago.

Henrique and Vanderson are represented by the same agent in Giuliano Bertolucci, who SPORT claims dismissed proposals from the Premier League for the pair during the summer and is now waiting for the January transfer window instead.

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