Manchester City's hopes of signing Atalanta left-back Robin Gosens this summer have taken a blow after Barcelona joined the race to sign the German defender.

Man City have regularly been linked with the 26-year-old ahead of the upcoming transfer window and the latest report from Spanish news outlet Sport claims that he has now attracted the interest of La Liga giants Barcelona.

Ronald Koeman's side look set to sell back-up left-back Junior Firpo this summer and need a suitable long-term replacement for Jordi Alba, who has maintained a starting spot at the Nou Camp this season but will turn 33 next year.

Gosens could be the ideal fit with the Catalan side, considering he is very much an attacking left-back, who can also feature in midfield, which would suit Barcelona's long-standing style of attacking full-backs in the mould of Alba and Dani Alves.

However, his performances this season have been sensational at times and he could also prove to be an excellent addition to Pep Guardiola's side, especially as left-back is one area in which the Citizens could definitely add some more depth.

Whilst Oleksandr Zinchenko has performed extremely well in recent weeks, and Joao Cancelo has performed well as an inverted wing-back at times this season, they both feel like short-term solutions in that position.

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The Atalanta star could be the man to replace Benjamin Mendy in this City side, with his various injury problems meaning he is no longer the player he once was, which has left the Citizens missing a marauding natural left-back such as Gosens.

The most recent season in Serie A saw the former Heracles Almelo man contribute a superb 11 goals and six assists in 32 appearances, averaging an excellent 7.19 rating from WhoScored.

He was similarly impressive last season, scoring nine and assisting eight in 34 appearances in Italy's top-flight, so it was perhaps no surprise when former Lazio defender Roberto Cravero suggested that he had a "better" season than Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, despite the Englishman being pivotal to the Merseyside outfit's first Premier League title.

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If the German could match the Liverpool man's form in the Premier League with City, then he would surely prove to be an excellent addition to Guardiola's side this summer, so it is unfortunate, therefore, that Barcelona have now entered the race to sign the £31.5m-rated defender, as it may prove to be a major blow to City's chances of bringing him to the Etihad.

And, in other news... Man City massively missed out on £36m-rated PL beast, Pep dubbed him "one of the best"