Barcelona are winning the race to sign highly rated midfielder Franck Kessie this summer.

Kessie has impressed as a versatile midfielder since switching from Atalanta to the San Siro in 2019 but his time in Milan is nearing an end as he does not want to sign a new deal with the Rossonneri.

Barcelona have become experts at signing free agents in the last year, snapping up the likes of Sergio Aguero, Memphis Depay, Eric Garcia and Dani Alves after they ran down their contracts.

And according to a report in Spanish newspaper Marca, Barca are the club Kessie wants to join the most.

While Barca’s number one target at the moment is Erling Haaland, Barca are looking at plenty of other areas of their squad they need to strengthen.

One area they will have to bolster is holding midfield, with Sergio Busquets, the lynchpin of Barcelona for the last 14 years, approaching the twilight of his career, turning 34 in July.

Kessie only turned 25 in December and Barca view him as a long-term option as the anchor of their midfield.

Another thing that is attracting Barcelona to Kessie is his goalscoring prowess. He has scored five goals this season for Milan in Serie A, a big improvement on the one LaLiga strike Busquets has to his name this campaign.