Barcelona have come to an agreement on a new four-year-contract with highly rated academy prospect Marc Cucurella.
According to a report by Spanish publication SPORT, Barcelona have reached an agreement with the highly-rated youngster’s agents and are now close to securing his signature on a new 4-year contract with the club, which will extend his stay with the Blaugrana till the summer of 2021.
The deal is expected to to be finalised next week and will likely be announced shortly after, as the player is currently focused on his Barcelona B duties. This deal comes mere weeks before the end of his current contract, which ends at the end of June.
Should Barcelona fail to secure his signature in the coming weeks, he will be free to talk to other interested clubs and would leave the Nou Camp for free. Signing him was high on the priority list for the now deposed Spanish Champions and with good reason.
He has scored a goal and provided 4 assists in 21 appearances across all competitions this season and was an integral part of their UEFA Youth League run, which ended in the semi-finals. His impressive performances have even courted interest from some major European giants.
Manchester City, now managed by former Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola were said to be interested in the youngster. Over the past 3 summers, the Citizens having been purchasing some of the best young talent in the world such as Leroy Sane, John Stones, Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus.
22-year-old Bernardo Silva was most recently brought over from AS Monaco. This is likely with the view to build a team in Guardiola’s image, therefore having spent nearly 5 years in Barcelona’s youth ranks, Cucurella would have would no trouble adjusting to the Spaniard’s philosophy.
Borussia Dortmund have always sought after the best talent from across and their squad already has a number of young talented players in their ranks so it comes as no surprise that they were said to be interested in the former Espanyol youngster.
However Dortmund, who recently won the DFB Pokal, have a number of options at left back. Raphael Guerreiro, Lukasz Piszczek and Joo-Ho Park are the players currently fighting for a spot at left-back so it is unlikely that Cucurella would have gotten a chance to break in the first team.
Arsenal were also said to be interested in the youngster. It is no secret that Barcelona are interested in Hector Bellerin and last month it was reported that the Gunners had asked for Arda Turan and Cucurella in exchange for the Spanish international fullback.
However, with the lack of Champions League for next term and Kieran Gibbs, Nacho Monreal and now Sead Kolasinac competing for starting spots, Cucurella would have likely been sent out on loan to gain some experience, much like Bellerin, before he broke into the first team.,
The biggest name to be linked with Cucurella was that of arch rivals Real Madrid. With the expiration date of his current contract edging closer, the Florentino Perez was reportedly pondering over a summer swoop for the youngster, who would have been available for free.
He could have proven to be an able long term replacement for the legendary Marcelo, but Los Blancos would have likely sent him out on loan for the short term as they have with Jesus Vallejo, Dani Carvajal, Marco Asensio and Llorente to gain some experience.
This kind of widespread interest is not unjustified and his undoubted talent is there for all to see. The 18-year-old could very well become Barcelona’s next big academy product to break into and establish himself in their world class first team should his talent be nurtured properly, something Barcelona arguably do better than anyone.
