Negotiations regarding Left-Back Alejandro Balde’s contract renewal have begun with the player’s agent, Jorge Mendes and the club is optimistic about the contract extension until 2027 with a release clause of $1B and registration with the first team.
As reported by journalist Ivan San Antonio, FC Barcelona want to renew Alejandro Balde’s contract and the player himself wants to continue at his childhood club.
“La Masia means a lot to me. I have practically had all of my footballing life here. Barça is the club of my life,” said the 19-year-old Left-Back.
Alejandro Balde has come through the ranks of La Masia and made his first team appearance last season against Granada on September 20, 2021, as a starter at the age of 17 years and 337 days. In his debut season with the first team, he participated in 5 games and only started twice.
Ahead of the start of this season, the coaching staff and the sporting department planned to reinforce the left-back spot with a backup option ( Marcos Alonso ) as Jordi Alba was expected to be the first-choice left-back.
However, the young Spaniard surprised everyone with his impressive performances during the pre-season and established himself not only as the first-choice left-back replacing Jordi Alba but also as the team’s best right-back as well during the absence of Ronald Araujo and Jules Kounde.
Alejandro Balde has started 11 games out of 13 so far this season in La Liga and repaid the trust of the manager, Xavi Hernández, with 3 assists to his name in those 11 appearances. As per recent reports, Xavi has asked the club to make an effort to renew the young left-back.
Balde’s current contract is set to expire in 2024 and he is not even registered with the first team. The club has already initiated talks with his agent regarding his renewal and also decided to award him the first-team number in January and he will most likely wear the #12 vacated by Martin Braithwaite, who left the club last summer.
