Barcelona Transfer News: Gerard Deulofeu Buyback Cost Revealed, Latest Rumours

Barcelona have an option to buy back Gerard Deulofeu for €12 million (£10.4 million), the club's technical director, Roberto Fernandez, has revealed.

The 23-year-old playmaker is on loan at AC Milan from Everton and is thriving, recently earning a recall to the Spanish national squad for their upcoming internationals with Israel and France.

His impressive performances have not gone unnoticed by Barca—the club he left permanently for Everton in 2015 for £4.2 million—and Fernandez has hinted the Catalan giants could move to re-sign Deulofeu, per Cadena SER (h/t Sport, via ESPN FC's Ben Gladwell): "He didn't play much at Everton, while he's doing well at Milan, and he's now even been called up to the national team. This is good news for us because we can buy him back for €12 million. It's good that we have this possibility."

Club	Season	Apps	Mins	Goals	Assists
AC Milan	2016-17	8(1)	766	1	3
Everton	2016-17	4(7)	458	-	-
Everton	2015-16	16(10)	1385	2	8
Sevilla	2014-15	10(7)	783	1	5
Everton	2013-14	9(16)	895	3	3

Despite a successful loan spell with the Toffees in 2013-14, Deulofeu failed to nail down a starting spot at Goodison Park after making his permanent switch. 

He went on loan to the San Siro at the beginning of this year and has netted one goal and provided three assists for Milan in nine Serie A appearances, per WhoScored.com. 

Per football analyst Thom Lawrence, the Barca youth graduate is comparing favourably with the best attackers the Italian top flight has to offer:

He has only just turned 23, so he has plenty more scope for improvement. If he continues to show such excellent form to the end of the season, it would be little surprise if Barca were to gamble on buying him back.

Deulofeu's move to Milan has been, so far, a huge success.

Before he left Everton in January, he had made just four starts in the Premier League in 2016-17, netting no goals and providing no assists.

His prospects of earning a recall to the Spain squad looked minimal, but he has impressed national team coach Julen Lopetegui with his performances in Italy, per Reuters (via MailOnline): "He was not playing consistently at his previous team, but since joining Milan, he has taken on an important role, is at a good level and has improved with the things that we felt he had to improve on. He can help us and we like him."

Deulofeu has the ability to play on either flank or even through the middle if needs be.

He could provide fine attacking cover at Barca should he continue to prove his ability at the highest level, and there are likely to be a number of other suitors for him in the summer even if the Camp Nou outfit forego the chance to buy him back.