In the last few years, the FC Barcelona first team has been seeing an increased participation from talents developed at their academy, La Masia. A number of players in Xavi’s starting eleven are quite young, and have graduated from La Masia.
Gavi is one such player who has come up through the ranks at Barcelona, and is now one of the most trusted midfielders for Xavi. Similarly, Alejandro Balde also developed at the academy, and took over the left-back position at Barcelona from Jordi Alba last season. This season, Lamine Yamal is expected to be the breakout star for the Catalan giants.
Yamal and Balde’s contract extension
The Blaugranes have seen these players develop and have given them the platform to shine in the Barcelona first team. Now, the next step for Barcelona is to ensure their long-term continuity with the Catalan club.
For this purpose, the Catalans have been trying to complete the contract renewals of all these youngsters. Gavi’s contract is currently subject to a law court, and the player is registered only provisionally.
On the other hand, there have been reports that Barcelona have also reached an agreement with Balde and Yamal for their contract extensions. However, these agreements have not yet resulted in an official contract extension for these players.
According to the latest report on this subject by Anais Marti Herrero, FC Barcelona will officially announce the contract extensions of these two players after the current international break.
New contracts for the Spanish duo
Both players are currently with the Spain national squad and are expected to return to Barcelona by 13th September. Once their contracts are officially extended, both these players will become more strongly associated with the Catalan giants.
Balde’s new contract will go till 2028, while Yamal’s contract will go till 2026, as he is still only 16 years of age and FIFA allows only up to three years contracts for players of his age category. Both these players will also have release clauses of €1 billion each.
