Barcelona are reportedly weighing up an approach for Bayern Munich winger Leroy Sane in the summer of 2024.
The 27-year-old made a big impression at Manchester City after leaving Schalke in 2016, winning two Premier League titles and hitting double figures in both goals and assists in back-to-back campaigns.
Sane's exploits in the Premier League caught the eye of Bayern, who paid £41.8m to bring the Germany international back to his homeland in 2020, where he has continued to post an impressive set of numbers.
Sane has 40 goals and 37 assists to show from 135 matches in a Bayern Munich jersey, including a brace in his side's opening Bundesliga win over Werder Bremen last week.
However, the 27-year-old was not able to nail down a place in the Bavarians' starting XI last season, and he was involved in a memorable off-field incident with Sadio Mane following a Champions League loss to Manchester City, allegedly being punched by the former Liverpool man.
Mane's exit for Al-Nassr has decreased competition for attacking places, but Sane is still battling Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman for minutes and is only under contract at the Allianz Arena until 2025.
According to Bild's Christian Falk, Tobi Altschaffl and Nico Linner - via Goal - Barcelona are now considering a move for Sane, but they will wait until 2024 before formalising their interest.
The report adds that Barca would have welcome Sane's arrival at Camp Nou during the current transfer window, but the winger rejected the opportunity to leave Bayern and intends to see out the 2023-24 season before making a decision on his future.
Sane's next career move will allegedly hinge on how he performs with Thomas Tuchel's side this season, and Barca are therefore keeping a watchful eye on his performances.
The La Liga champions have seen their attacking ranks thinned by the sale of Ousmane Dembele to Paris Saint-Germain, while they failed in their efforts to bring Lionel Messi back to Camp Nou.
Nevertheless, Xavi still has Ferran Torres, Raphinha, Lamine Yamal, Ansu Fati and Abde Ezzalzouli capable of playing out wide, while Gavi has often been deployed on the left-hand side too.
However, the long-term futures of Torres, Raphinha and Fati are still unclear, and the latter's father admitted earlier this year that he had encouraged his son to seek a move away from Barcelona.
The injury-plagued Fati remains on the fringes of Xavi's first team, and he has supposedly asked to leave the club this summer, putting Arsenal, PSG and Atletico Madrid on red alert.
Nevertheless, Xavi insisted that Fati is the "future" of Barcelona when asked at a press conference last week, and his contract runs until 2027 with the option of an additional two years.
Fati was named on the bench for Sunday's 2-0 La Liga win over Cadiz, coming on for the final 22 minutes as goals from Pedri and fellow substitute Torres got La Blaugrana off the mark. body check tags ::
