Roma Chief Confirms Advanced Talks with Barcelona for Carles Perez

Roma sporting director Gianluca Petrachi said on Sunday his club are in advanced negotiations with Barcelona for 21-year-old winger Carles Perez.

Petrachi told Sky Sport Italia (h/t Football Italia) the club are trying to convince the youngster to swap the Camp Nou for the Stadio Olimpico.

"We carry on with our philosophy of investing in promising young players. The negotiations are at an advanced stage, we have an excellent rapport with Barcelona, are talking to the lad and obviously need to convince him we have the right sporting project here for him.

"I prefer to remain cautious and not say it's done before everything is finalised. Roma are nobody's feeder club, so if the player comes to Roma, he will be a Roma player, there will be no right to buy him back."

Perez is a product of Barcelona's famous La Masia youth academy and made his first-team debut in May's 2-2 draw with Eibar in La Liga.

He has gone on to feature 12 times for the first team in 2019-20 and scored in the 5-2 La Liga win over Real Betis and December's 2-1 victory at Inter Milan on his UEFA Champions League debut:

Ansu Fati was also on target for Barcelona in the win, and Perez said afterwards the two players were an "example for the boys at La Masia, in the sense that if you believe then you can do it."

Yet Perez appears to have become surplus to requirements at Barcelona since Quique Setien replaced Ernesto Valverde as manager.

The new boss has told Perez to look for another club, according to Onda Cero (h/t Marca).

Perez's departure in January would leave Barcelona short of attacking options, as Luis Suarez has been ruled out for four months through injury and Ousmane Dembele has been sidelined since November.

Journalist Rik Sharma said Perez's departure means Barca will bring in a striker in January:

Barcelona have been linked with a host of attackers in January. Valencia's Rodrigo is their top target, although Monaco's Wissam Ben Yedder and Lautaro Martinez are also options, according to Sport.

Perez was left out of the Barcelona squad for Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Valencia in La Liga, and it appears his time with the Catalan giants may be coming to an end.