Barcelona 'join Dani Ceballos race'

Barcelona are reportedly ready to go head-to-head with Real Madrid for the signature of Real Betis midfielder Dani Ceballos ahead of the 2017-18 campaign.

Ceballos, who has a £10.5m buy-out in his Betis contract, has played a key role in Spain Under-21s reaching the final of this summer's Under-21 European Championships in Poland.

Real Madrid have been strongly linked with a move for the midfielder, although Betis president Angel Haro denied that Los Blancos had already activated Ceballos's release clause.

The player himself has revealed that he will sit down with Betis boss Quique Setien before deciding his future, but it is widely thought that the Spaniard will decide to seek pastures new in this summer's transfer window.

Real Madrid are said to lead the race, but according to Sport, Barcelona are ready to battle their bitter rivals for Ceballos, who scored twice and registered two assists in 30 La Liga appearances last season.

Ceballos is just two league appearances short of 100 for Betis.