Arsenal, Chelsea and City in Three-way Fight for Barcelona Superkids - Report

Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City are monitoring the future of three of Barcelona's most promising youngsters, according to reports in Catalonia.

Local newspaper Sport reports that the three Premier League teams have recently been weighing up moves for Carles Aleña, Carles Pérez and Ayoub Abou.

The three players are under 16 and the Premier League giants are trying to take advantage of a Spanish rule stipulating that they cannot sign a professional contract until they reach this age.

Carles Aleña is a prodigious left footed player known as the new Maradona in Barcelona's youth academy. Carles Perez plays as a striker while Ayoub Abou is a versatile and very powerful footballer.

Barcelona are confident about securing the future of the trio, but they know that they cannot convince them with money because the contracts they can offer can not match the lucrative offers from City, Arsenal or Chelsea.

The Catalan team are particularly concerned about the prospect of losing their best young players after last summer, when two youngsters moved to England.Julio Pleguezuelo was signed by Arsenal while Josimar moved to Chelsea.

They followed in the footsteps of Cesc Fabregas, who moved to Arsenal and forced his way into the first team shortly afterwards, and Gerard Pique, who played for Manchester United. Two current members of Arsenal's squad, Hector Bellerin and Jon Toral, have also swapped Catalonia for North London in recent few years.