Barcelona have reportedly reached a verbal agreement to sign Eintracht Frankfurt defender Evan N'Dicka this summer.
The 23-year-old Frenchman is expected to leave the Bundesliga outfit as his current contract is due to expire at the end of the season.
N'Dicka, a 6ft 4in central defender, has spent the last four-and-a-half years with Frankfurt and has been a first-team regular since joining the club from Auxerre in 2018.
Across all competitions, N'Dicka has made a total of 168 appearances for the German side, scoring 10 goals and providing 10 assists, and he has already featured 29 times so far this season.
N'Dicka was part of the triumphant Frankfurt squad that won the 2021-22 Europa League, and played against Barcelona en route the final, although he was sent off in the dying embers of their historic 3-2 second-leg away win in the quarter-finals.
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N'Dicka now appears to be closing in on a potential summer switch to Camp Nou, as Sport1, via Marca, reports that the centre-back has a verbal agreement to join Barca on a free transfer ahead of the 2023-24 campaign.
However, the report adds that the deal is not yet finalised, and Barca have until the middle of March to make sure that the Frenchman becomes the latest member of Xavi's squad.
Barcelona have seemingly moved one step closer to successfully fending off interest from a host of other clubs in the race to sign N'Dicka, including Premier League duo Manchester United and Liverpool who have both allegedly been tracking the defender.
Inter Milan, Sevilla and Real Betis have also been credited with an interest in N'Dicka, but the opportunity to join Xavi's rejuvenated Barca squad is seemingly too good to turn down.
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The potential arrival of N'Dicka will help further strengthen Barcelona's options at the back, with Xavi already having Ronald Araujo, Andreas Christensen, Jules Kounde and Eric Garcia at his disposal.
The Catalan giants currently boast the best defence across Europe's top-five leagues as they have kept a total of 16 La Liga clean sheets and have conceded only seven goals in 21 league matches.
Frankfurt, meanwhile, have has less success at the back so far this term, and N'Dicka has only been able to contribute to seven clean sheets in his 29 appearances across all tournaments.
Elsewhere, Barcelona reportedly face competition from a number of European clubs, including Arsenal, in the race to sign Brazilian starlet Vitor Roque from Athletico Paranaense.
Oliver Thomas
