Multiple youngsters who were projected to have a very bright future ahead of them left the FC Barcelona team in the last summer transfer window. The most prominent of these cases was that of Vitor Roque, who arrived at the Catalan club in the last winter transfer window after impressing in Brazil but left for Real Betis on loan last summer to continue with his growth and development.
Another player with a similar case was Mikayil Faye, who arrived at Barcelona in the 2023 summer transfer window and impressed during his one year at Barcelona Atletic. He was expected to become a part of the first team this season but ultimately left for Rennes for €10.3 million in the last summer transfer window.
As Mundo Deportivo has reported, the young defender’s agent, Andy Bara, recently appeared in a podcast and shed some light on the details of this operation. The agent revealed that Faye left the Catalan club because another defender had refused to leave and FC Barcelona needed an FFP margin:
“Mika Faye left because the club needed ‘fair play,’ and Iñigo Martínez, whom the club wanted to sell, refused to leave.”
The agent went on to disclose one of the key conditions that Barcelona had for this operation:
“Barça wanted a buyback clause in Faye’s contract with Rennes, and this was the only condition set by Barça. The clause is for €30m. Now everything depends on Faye and his development.”
Bara also claimed that Flick had promised a lot of prominence to the young defender this season, but he was sacrificed to help the club in a difficult time:
“He spoke with Hansi Flick during the American tour and told Faye, ‘Don’t worry, you’ll have at least 10 appearances this season, and from next season we’ll see how things go.’ Faye agreed with Flick, and we were all happy. Barça wanted Olmo and had to sell some players. I used my player (Faye) to help Barça in this situation and explained everything to him.”
The agent named several clubs across Europe that were interested in his signing: “Many clubs were interested, such as Rennes, Inter, Lille, Olympique Marseille, and Eintracht Frankfurt, but 15 days before Faye left, Barça didn’t want to talk about his departure, thinking he could participate in the first team.”
Bara also provided some personal information about his Senegalese client: “He’s Senegalese, speaks French, and adapted very quickly. He’s fast, strong, technical, and left-footed, and I hope that in the future he becomes a world-class player, but it all depends on him. According to my conversations with Rennes, Faye should be a starter in one or two months.”
There is no doubt that Faye had set some high expectations for himself with his performances in the Barcelona subsidiary. Hopefully, he can return to the club in the future as an even more complete defender, and etch his name in the club’s history books.
