Barcelona to complete midfielder deal today after breakthrough in talks

Fermin Lopez has had a whirlwind of a year or so at Barcelona which is now set to be capped off with a new contract.

The young midfielder wasn’t even considered a stand-out talent in Barca B and had to spend a brief time in the third tier of Spanish football at Linares Deportivo to continue his development. The move turned out to be a brilliant decision and Lopez ended his stint with 12 goals and 4 assists to his name in 40 appearances.

He was subsequently handed a ticket to this summer’s pre-season tour with the first team and he took the opportunity with both hands and made headlines with his thunderous strike against Real Madrid.

Over the weekend Xavi awarded him a competitive debut for Barcelona, introducing him off the bench late in the game against Villarreal. Now, he’s set to sign a new contract at Camp Nou.

Midfielder to sign Barcelona deal today – reports

According to Fabrizio Romano, the 20-year-old will sign a new deal today after the parties found breakthrough in negotiations early this week. Lopez will sign a five-year deal and the release clause is set at €400m.

Barcelona faithful will hope this is just the start and Lopez gets plenty of senior minutes to show his talents. The failure to sign Bernardo Silva or any other offensive midfielder and Pedri’s frequent injury issues could certainly work in Lopez’s favour.

He replaced İlkay Gündoğan in the 4-3 win over Villarreal on Sunday, but he can also play the Pedri/Gavi role (the most advanced midfielder in Xavi’s box midfield) thanks to his ability to link up with forwards in half-spaces.

Meanwhile, the Catalan outfit may also announce the signing of Joao Cancelo today. On Monday, Fabrizio Romano reported Manchester City and Barcelona are exchanging documents to complete formalities for the proposed loan deal with a buy option.