At FC Barcelona, the development and progression of young players is taken extremely seriously. The Catalan club has long been known for doing this, and it has paid off greatly for them as well. However, not every young talent at Barcelona manages to get the same kind of treatment or recognition.
Truly convincing the club is a massive step in its own right, and only a handful of players actually manage to do that. Others may have to find a place for themselves elsewhere if they want their careers to progress, but a certain few find their place at Barcelona.
One of the players who reportedly managed to do this just right and got his coaches to be happy with what they had seen from him was Gerard Martin. However, he has a contract in place currently that will expire in 2025 and would leave him as a free agent by the end of this season.
To avoid that, however, Jijantes FC reports that Barcelona are already working on a renewal proposal for the young left-back and they have already even met with his representatives to initiate contacts in the form of initial meetings between the concerned parties.
The young 22-year-old defender has had a promising few cameos so far, mainly as a replacement for Alejandro Balde, and that is exactly what Barcelona see him as. With his more physical profile, Hansi Flick has a player who can offer a different kind of skillset to the team when replacing Balde.
So far, Hansi Flick and his staff are reportedly more than happy with his contributions and they believe he is the right player to retain as Balde’s replacement. Alex Valle also seemed to have a chance to play the same role, but his move to Celtic seems to have taken that opportunity away from him.
It remains to be seen what the exact details of Barça’s new proposal for Gerard Martin will end up being. However, at the very least, it can be suspected that it will include a handful of years added in the extension as well as potentially a higher salary than his current one.
