3 Barcelona transfers cancelled after finding Young Gems

#2 Alejandro Balde for left-back alongside Barcelona’s Jordi Alba

Alejandro Balde is a 17-year-old left-back who plays in the Barcelona B team currently. He started out as a striker but he was changed into a left-back/wing-back as the coaches thought that it was the best position for him. The wing-back position is great for him as he has a lot of speed and has the ability to run up and down the pitch. On top of that, his previous stints at playing at a more forward position also gives him an advantage over players like Junior Firpo.

He has great ball-carrying ability and crossing ability and he is looked at as a younger form of Jordi Alba, Barca’s current first-choice left-back. However, Alba is growing old and Firpo is not good enough to replace him. The Catalans thought about going for Bayern Munich’s David Alaba, who would be leaving for free at the end of the season. However, Alaba’s weekly wages were too high and Real Madrid ended up striking a deal with him. So now Koeman is hoping that Balde could be the next Alba as he is quite young and is very promising. He will save a lot of money for the club and could go on to become one of their most important players in the seasons to come.

#3 Inaki Pena as a Backup  for Marc-Andre ter Stegen

Another position where the Catalans would have needed to buy a new player would have been in the goalkeeper position. With Marc Andre Ter Stegen dominating the position between the sticks, backup goalkeeper, Neto, got fed up and decided to leave at the end of the season. Barcelona would have needed to find a second-choice keeper on the free agents’ list for next season and that would have been a time-consuming task.

However, the rise of Inaki Pena, their B team’s goalkeeper, have saved them the time as they can just promote Pena to the main team. While Pena won’t get too much time on the field, it would not be surprising to see him represent the Catalan shirt during cup ties. He is only 22 years of age so we’ll have to see how many years he will stay under the shadow of Ter Stegen who himself is only 28 and has many years to give to Barcelona.

Which of these players are you most excited to see with the first team?