Barcelona are reportedly weighing up a move for Southampton's Cedric Soares, according to media speculation in Spain.
Spanish news publication AS claims that the Catalan giants sent scouts to St.Mary's stadium to run the rule over Soares as they look for a long-term solution to their problematic right-back position.
Barcelona had hoped to catch Soares in the flesh against Inter Milan in the Europa League match on the South coast on Thursday, but Saints manager Claude Puel opted to leave the 26-year-old on the bench ahead of Sunday's Premier League trip to Hull.
The La Liga outfit are yet to find a suitable replacement for iconic right-back Dani Alves, who departed the Camp Nou to join Juventus in the summer. It had been hoped that Aleix Vidal would take up the mantle from Alves in Barcelona's starting eleven, but the 27-year-old has been frozen out of the first-team set up over poor performances and his terrible attitude since being dropped by manager Luis Enrique.
Sergi Roberto has provided an option as a makeshift full back since September and, despite impressing in the role, the defensive midfielder is viewed as a long-term successor to Alves.
Soares has seen his stock rise remarkably in the past 12 months after he joined in July 2015. The 25-year-old moved to England from Sporting for around £4.5m after then Southampton boss Ronald Koeman had made him one of his priority signings ahead of the summer transfer window that year.
Barcelona sent two scouts to St Mary's to watch Cedric Soares in Saints' 2-1 Europa League win over Inter but Claude Puel left him out.
In spite of an average start to his Saints career, Soares went on to make the full-back role his own and ended up making 27 appearances in all competitions last term as he helped Southampton to a sixth-placed finish in the Premier League.
The ex-Coimbra player went on to lift the Euro 2016 trophy with the Portuguese national side in France in the summer, and earned rave reviews for his displays for Fernando Santos' side.
Soares has featured seven times for Southampton this season, but has missed the past six weeks' worth of action with a foot injury. He is expected to return to the starting line up for the Saints' final match ahead of the last international break of 2016.
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