Lima’s agent: No deal with Barcelona, Italian club may be in the mix

You know, the more I get into the silly season, the more I actually kind of enjoy it.

No, I’m not a sadist. It’s just entertaining to read reports of who is linked to whom and the sources sports sites, newspapers, radio, bloggers and the like will use to either confirm or deny.

In this case, enter Lucas Lima.

The Brazil international seemed to have a gift wrap on himself on his way to Camp Nou and Barcelona.

But, not so fast says his agent. In fact, it is Inter Milan that may be at the front of the line for the midfielder.

Photo by Ricardo Nogueira/Getty Images

Wagner Ribeiro told Cadena Ser, a Spanish radio station, that there actually is no deal on the table between Lima, his current club Santos and Barcelona. This is all despite his teammate at Santos, Bruno Henrique, wished him well in Barcelona.

"The proposal Santos is offering is one of the best in Brazilian football.

"It is wonderful, but the boy does not think only in the economic side.

"Next week I will travel abroad to deal with an Italian club, meanwhile other teams are following him."

Wagner Ribeiro

While he didn’t specify which Italian club he was going to deal with, speculation is that it is the Nerazzurri, because, well … why not?

Now, this would be a player I would like to see in the black and blue. He has great ball-handling skills, does set pieces fantastically and has great speed. His pitch vision is also sound.

Skills

Lima has been targeted in the past by Liverpool, Chelsea, Barcelona and a wealth of other teams. He has spent his entire career in Brazil playing with Internacional, Sport Recife and with Santos FC since 2014.

His price tag may also be in the right neighborhood for Inter as his market value is right around €9 million which, even if the asking price were €12 million, it would still be a good bargain to get that experience with an attacking midfielder.

While the silly season tends to get out-of-hand, this is one of those rumors I would kind of like to see come true.

Thoughts? Hit up the comments below.