21-year-old Barcelona defender set to sign four-year-deal with derby rivals | OneFootball

Journalist Ferran Martinez has confirmed that Barcelona’s 21-year-old defender Mika Marmol is close to becoming a new Girona player.

While writing for Spanish publication Mundo Deportivo, Martinez said that the versatile defender, who can play as a centre-back as well as a left-back, had several options on the table, with Las Palmas and Andorra both waiting for him to respond.

The youngster, however, preferred to stay in Spain’s top-tier in a move that will allow Barcelona to have 50% of the player’s future sale.

Although initial reports suggested that the transfer could involve a fee, Barça decided to keep this operation on similar lines to Oscar Mingueza’s move to Celta Vigo.

This means Marmol will move to Girona for free, but in return, Barcelona will get to keep 50% of the income received from his future sale.

For now, the 21-year-old is set to sign a four-year deal with Girona. The deal has only been made possible thanks to a constant push from Girona manager Michel. If it were not for him, there were other suitors waiting to pounce on the opportunity.

In that regard, an offer from Bundesliga II side Hamburg arrived late, but as it stands, the operation with Girona is almost closed.

Once all the formalities are done, Marmol will become Barcelona’s 12th casualty of the 2022/23 season following the departures of Philippe Coutinho, Francisco Trincao, Riqui Puig, Oscar Mingueza, Neto, Rey Manaj, Moussa Wague, Dani Alves, Nico Gonzalez, Clement Lenglet and Alex Collado.

Of the aforementioned, Trincao is on loan to Sporting, Nico Gonzalez will play for Valencia for the 2022/23 season, Lenglet has joined Tottenham on a temporary basis and Collado has chosen Elche for the ongoing season.

As far as Marmol is concerned, the 21-year-old was informed by Barcelona to find a new team last week itself as given the competition they have in their roster, it would have been difficult for the team to accommodate him in the first team.