Barcelona want Bellerin to hand in transfer request

The Catalan club are reportedly losing patience with Bellerin and wants the defender to facilitate transfer proceedings by handing in a transfer request to Arsenal.

Bellerin has long been touted to return to Barcelona, especially since there was a buy-back clause inserted into his contract when Arsenal signed him from the Catalan side. Following a poor season, newly-appointed manager Ernesto Valverde identified the right-back position as one that needs the most improvement and wants to trigger the buy-back clause in Bellerin's contract. 

Barcelona's current right-back, Aleix Vidal, endured a torrid first season for Barcelona as injuries stopped his progress. Even when he did play, he was culpable for many errors and was seen as a weak link for many opponents. 

While Bellerin is the number one choice for Barcelona, the club is slowly starting to lose patience with the standstill nature of the deal and have started looking at Benfica's right-back Nelson Semedo as a backup option. 

The Blaugrana has now urged Bellerin to hand in a transfer request to facilitate proceedings, according to Spanish news outlet Don Balon, similar to what Marco Verratti is doing at PSG. 

Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu feels this is the best way to start negotiations as boundaries and intentions will be clearly defined after Bellerin officially expresses his desire to leave. He wants the Spaniard to take some responsibility for the move instead of waiting for something to happen. 

Barcelona's interest in Semedo might just be a tactic to get Bellerin to be more active in the deal. This tactic was infamously used when Barcelona dealt with goalkeeper Vitor Baia. The club leaked rumours about them being interested in German shot-stopper Andreas Köpke and that immediately prompted Baia to hand in a transfer request at then club Porto, which finally led to the deal being finalized.