Barcelona have been waiting 17 long years for revenge on Real Madrid after Luis Figo traded the Camp Nou for the Bernabeu in one of the most controversial transfers of all time, but that wait could soon be over if rumours of Catalan interest in Isco are to be believed.
According to Goal.com, Barça are set to try and convince the midfield playmaker not to sign a new contract with Los Blancos. Instead, the Blaugrana want him to run down his current terms and then join them as a free agent when his contract expires in 2018.
The suggestion is that Barça are seeking the 24-year-old as a possible long-term successor replacement for ageing club captain Andres Iniesta, who has missed 18 games this season across three separate injury layoffs and will celebrate his 33rd birthday in May.
Isco is not a regular starter at Real under coach Zinedine Zidane, but he remains an important squad player nonetheless and set the club back €30m when he arrived in Madrid from Malaga in 2013.
Losing him to hated rivalsBarça for nothing would therefore still be something they desperately want to avoid.Contract negotiations with Real are said to be underway although nothing is agreed as yet.
Camp Nou coach Luis Enrique is certainly one who knows that it is like to make the switch from Real Madrid to Barcelona. With the 'Bosman' ruling still a new phenomenon at the time, he ran down his contract at Real and signed with Barça for free in 1996.
Whether the treble winning coachwill still be in charge long enough to personally tempt Isco to Catalunya is another story, though.
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