Chelsea Battling Barcelona For Bayer Leverkusen Central Midfielder

Barcelona face competition from Chelsea in their bid to sign Bayer Leverkusen wonderkid Atakan Akkaynak, according to reports in the English press.

The Daily Express says Chelsea have posted scouts to run the rule over the Germany youth international with a view to making a move for him when the transfer window reopens in January.

Barcelona have been monitoring the central midfielder in the past one year and could swoop for him in the coming months.

Although Atakan Akkaynak has yet to debut for Bayer Leverkusen, he trains with their first team and is one of the standout players in their U19 squad that compete in the A-Junioren Bundesliga WestA.

The 18-year-old, who is also eligible to turn out for Turkey, had caps for Germany U16, U17 and U18 teams before making his debut for the U19s.

He was in the German squad that beat England U19s parading Chelsea's Tariq Uwakwe in an international friendly this past week.

Atakan Akkaynak is contracted to Bayer Leverkusen until June 30, 2019.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : dfb.de