La Masia talent signs new contract with Barcelona
Abel Ruiz has extended his stay with the Catalans as Barcelona aim to keep hold of their top talents by tying them down to new contracts.
Barcelona have announced that Abel Ruiz has signed a new three-year contract with the club, which has the option of two additional years. His contract has a 100 million euros release clause in order to dissuade external interest. This is similar to other La Masia players such as Riqui Puig and Carles Perez who also signed new contracts recently.
Ruiz has a lot of potential with the hope being that he can stake a claim for the centre-forward position in the near future. He has already won major silverware at youth level even though he is only 18-years-old because he has an U17 Euros and UEFA Youth League title to his name.
Last season was his first with the Barcelona B team, so he got a taste of playing in the second division with three goals in 26 appearances. Unfortunately it was a chaotic campaign for the side as they tried to merge young talents from abroad with La Masia prospects and experienced campaigners at that level.
Barcelona B were unable to avoid going straight back down, but the change of manager appears to have started a shift back towards providing a pathway through to the first-team for the talented youngsters that are coming through. Getting experience with the B side is a key part of that, and Ruiz is one of those players hoping to graduate to the first-team within the next few years.
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How close is Ruiz to the first-team?
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Luis Suarez is obviously the undisputed starter at the club. Paco Alcacer was used as his back-up last season, but he is generating interest from multiple clubs. Ernesto Valverde is unlikely to keep him and Munir, so one of them should be leaving this summer. Munir was on loan at Alaves last season.
Marc Cardona was ahead of Ruiz in the pecking order for the B team, but his contract with the club hasn’t been extended and is due to end this summer. Therefore, Ruiz should be third choice unless Barca opt to bring in another striker during this window.
Being this high up the pecking order should see him involved in some senior squad matches such as the Copa del Rey and maybe even league games against the bottom sides.
This is a pivotal moment for the youngster’s career because he has to take any opportunity that comes his way in order to convince Valverde that he deserves to be competing for those spots.