Barcelona, Juventus Reportedly Set to Duel for Lyon Midfield Star Lucas Tousart

Barcelona and Juventus are reportedly ready to go to war over the signature of up-and-coming Lyon midfield star Lucas Tousart, who has attracted attention following a breakout campaign at the Groupama Stadium.

The 2016-17 campaign handed Tousart his first taste of consistent first-team football at Lyon, and Italian website Calciomercato.com referred to a Mundo Deportivo article that said Barca will battle Juve for his services.

Both teams have sent scouts to watch the holding figure in action, but Bianconeri director of football Fabio Paratici is said to be a particularly big fan of his and has been for some time.

Tousart moved to Lyon from Valenciennes in 2015, and it was around that period he featured in a France under-19 team that French Football Weekly's Rich Allen recently pointed out as boasting some serious talent:

He moved to the Groupama Stadium for a meagre sum of €2.5 million, per Goal's Robin Bairner, meaning both Barca and Juve can hope to convince his club that a hefty profit on their investment will be enough to sell.

Fan account City Watch posted an image of Manchester City staff members at Lyon's UEFA Europa League clash at Everton last month, and while centre-back Mouctar Diakhaby was said to be their focus, Tousart may have also impressed in his 90-minute outing:

It's suggested Paratici took a particular interest in Tousart after he stepped in to help fill the midfield void left by Corentin Tolisso, who left Lyon for a move to Bayern Munich over the summer months.

But the Bianconeri are well-loaded in midfield, with Blaise Matuidi arriving from Paris Saint-Germain this past summer to complement the likes of Miralem Pjanic, Claudio Marchisio and Rodrigo Bentancur.

It's arguably Barca who could do with central reinforcements more, as with Andres Iniesta set to turn 34 before season's end, the likes of Ivan Rakitic, Paulinho and Denis Suarez don't give the same world-class quality.

Agence France-Presse's Kieran Canning bemoaned the drop-off in engine-room talent during October's 2-0 victory at Athletic Bilbao, and serious investment may be needed in that area if Barca are to maintain their usual standards:

Tousart isn't a pass-master by trade, however, and tends to focus his play more on destabilising the opposition—a trade in which the Blaugrana already have a master technician in Sergio Busquets.

Juventus appear more ready to offer the in-demand Frenchman a route out of Ligue 1 as things stand and view him as "Juventus material," but whether they act first on that interest is another matter.