Barcelona left surprised as forward opts to reject contract and join Chelsea - Reports
La Liga juggernauts Barcelona are surprised by young forward Marc Guiu's decision to leave the club and join Chelsea, according to a report from SPORT. The 18-year-old recently rejected a permanent senior contract offer from the Catalan giants in favor of a move to Stamford Bridge, leaving his teammates and the Barca management astonished.
A graduate of the Blaugrana's famed La Masia academy, Guiu was impressive for their B side, Barca Atletic, and in the UEFA Youth League. He made the jump to the senior team in the 2023-24 campaign under erstwhile coach Xavi, and immediately found his goalscoring form.
He netted the winning goal on his senior debut off the bench against Athletic Club in a La Liga fixture in October 2023, and became Barca's youngest scoring debutant (17 years and 291 days). He went on to make two more league appearances.
Guiu made his UEFA Champions League debut off the bench against Shakhtar Donetsk (2-1) in the same month. He scored against Royal Antwerp (2-3) two months later. He also made two appearances in the Copa del Rey, making it a total of seven senior appearances for Barcelona in the 2023-24 season.
Marc Guiu was hailed as their 'striker of the future', and was expected to sign a new contract at the club. The Catalans offered him a deal similar to the new contracts signed by academy talents Hector Fort and Marc Casado, but that is where Chelsea swooped in. They activated his measly €6 million release clause and reportedly offered him almost thrice of what Barca offered him to lure him away from the Nou Camp.
Barcelona looking to protect youth academy talents with bigger release clauses after Marc Guiu's move to Chelsea: Reports
Barcelona are looking to protect their academy talents by inserting bigger release clauses in their contracts, to begin with, according to reports from MARCA.
Chelsea have supposedly managed to snap up youngster Marc Guiu from the Catalan side, triggering the paltry €6 million release clause in his contract. Losing a player like Guiu with incredible talent and high potential has set the Barca administration into action.
Since Deco's appointment as Barcelona's sporting director, youth academy contracts also had termination clauses that allowed them to move to another club.
Before Guiu, center-back Pau Cubarsi, full-back Hector Fort, and midfielder Fermin Lopez faced a similar dilemma. However, Deco quickly re-negotiated their contracts and inserted bigger clauses.
Moving forward, Deco reportedly plans to insert larger release clauses into academy contracts, but also plans to make the contract termination fee variable. It could potentially increase if the player made a pre-determined number of appearances for the first team.