Barcelona Transfer News: Yannick Ferreira Carrasco Interest, Latest Rumours

Barcelona sporting director Robert Fernandez reportedly attended Atletico Madrid's 1-0 win over Bayern Munich on Wednesday evening with the express purpose of scouting Belgium winger Yannick Ferreira Carrasco.

The 23-year-old struck the winner for Los Rojiblancos as they maintained their 100 per cent record in the UEFA Champions League group stage, and Spanish daily Sport reported that Fernandez was on hand to examine Carrasco.

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Carrasco impressed in his first season at the Vicente Calderon and continued a fine start to the 2016-17 campaign in Madrid on Wednesday, bagging the only goal in a crucial Group D outing for the Spanish outfit.

ESPN FC's Dermot Corrigan noted that the evening could have played out differently had Atleti been able to call upon all their stars, but Carrasco's involvement may suggest the team are better off with him present:

According to Sport, Barca were interested in a move to sign Carrasco over the summer that never materialised, in no doubt partly because of his €40 million (£34.5 million) release clause.

Yahoo's Andrew Gaffney was in awe of the player in midweek and highlighted consistency as perhaps the only burden holding him back from making the next big step in his career:

Barcelona spent much of their summer searching for a player who could provide cover to the front trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar before finally sealing a deal for Valencia striker Paco Alcacer.

Sport's report also acknowledged that the club's recruitment drive wouldn't stop there, and Carrasco could be one of the club's primary targets if attacking reinforcements are on the agenda in 2017.

It's also interpreted that Atletico are trying to renew Carrasco's contract—currently set to expire in 2020—in the hope they can increase his current release clause, which would be far from outside Barca's reach.

The signs certainly suggest Carrasco is a player of exceptional quality considering he recorded something of a memorable token for the campaign against Bayern, per OptaJose:

Atleti most likely won't welcome Barcelona's interest, as it was only in 2015 that they recruited Carrasco from AS Monaco, and he went on to score six goals in 51 appearances for the Madrid giants.

Barca are focused on recruiting the next generation of talent, meaning Atletico may expect to hear more in the future regarding their interest in Carrasco if Fernandez rated the player highly in Wednesday's assessment.