Tottenham wer reportedly considering a swoop for one of Barcelona’s highly rated young talents, Carles Alena. Spanish newspaper AS claimed that a number of clubs were interested in signing the player who was supposedly available for as little as £2.5million as he had not signed a long-term contract with Barcelona.
However, the bad news now is that Alena has signed a new contract with Barcelona which contains a whopping £66million release clause. According to the Daily Mail, Alena has agreed on a contract extension with the Catalan giants with a potential release clause of £66million that would be activated if the player makes it to the first team.
A statement by the club read,
“Barcelona and Carles Alena have reached a contract agreement that will see the youngster sign on for the next three years. If Alena joins the first team then the deal will be extended by a further two years, and his release clause will reach €75m.”
Alena got his first taste of first-team football when he made his debut in the La Liga match against Granada a few months ago. However, he is understood to be a long way away from featuring in the Barcelona first-team and may even fail to do so.
In the past, we have brought in Barcelona’s talented players like Giovanni Dos Santos with limited success, but Alena’s arrival with the presence of manager Mauricio Pochettino could have been a defining factor. The former Espanyol manager has managed to transform the fortunes of the young players at the club to such an extent that they are now valued highly. Moving to Spurs would have represented a significant change for Alena, as he would have been able to get several first-team opportunities straightaway.
The 19-year-old has been rated as one of the top young talents to come out of the famed La Masia youth academy. Each year, this academy produces a number of gifted players but there are only a handful of opportunities for the players in the first-team, due to the wealth of talent at the club’s disposal.
As a result, many are being sold each year for a cut-price figure and Alena could have been one among them. In this transfer market when most of the top players are being valued in excess of £50million and the youngsters being placed at £20million, Daniel Levy was quick to spot a deal.
Spurs should have acted quickly in order to sign Alena as the left-footed Spaniard would have been a wonderful addition to our squad. Now that we have missed out on a top talent, it is time we move on and pursue our other targets.
