Manchester City outcast attracting interest from Barcelona

Manchester City face a fight to keep hold of Nicolas Otamendi at the end of the season with Barcelona interested in the centre-back, claims The Sun.

Otamendi has dropped down the pecking order this season and Pep Guardiola has already conceded the Argentina international is not happy at his reduced playing time.

The 30-year-old only signed a new long-term deal at the start of 2018 but the former Valencia centre-back is now a surprise transfer target for Spanish giants Barcelona.

Barcelona beat City to Ajax wonderkid Frenkie de Jong in a mouthwatering deal worth up to €86m (£74.7m) but are now unlikely to be able to afford his team-mate Matthijs de Ligt unless they sell first.

It has already been reported that Barcelona will need to offload two of Samuel Umtiti, Ivan Rakitic and Philippe Coutinho in the summer just to balance their books in the wake of De Jong’s arrival.

Umtiti’s departure would almost certainly require reinforcement and Otamendi would represent a much cheaper alternative than the 2018 World Cup winner.

Otamendi struggled to adapt to life in the Premier League after joining from Valencia in August 2015 but has improved since then, helped by Pep Guardiola’s arrival at the club.

However, the Argentine has started just eight league matches this season and was snubbed from Wednesday’s dead-rubber contest with Burton in favour of Eric Garcia, 18, and Philippe Sandler, 21.

Of players that have made at least 10 appearances in the Premier League this season, only three players, including two City teammates, have a better pass accuracy than Otamendi (92.5%).