Barcelona looking to sign 20-year-old South African gem compared to Lamine Yamal | OneFootball

Within FC Barcelona, there is always a desire to keep on improving the overall quality of players no matter what. Whether the performances of the first team, or even any youth team for that matter, are commendable or not, the club always works to make things even better. However, the rate of success in making that happen can vary when it comes to Barcelona.

While the club has tried various different methods of recruiting players over the last few years, including signing some of the world’s biggest names, certain methods have provided better results than others. One of those methods has been to rely on signing promising youngsters from different regions.

For Barcelona, youth development has always been a priority. However, instead of just developing their own youth products, the club is now also open to acquiring talents from elsewhere and giving them the time and guidance to develop into top players.

According to SPORT, La Blaugrana have now identified yet another promising youngster. This time around, however, the player hails from South Africa and is none other than 20-year-old Orlando Pirates forward Relebohile Mofokeng.

Naturally a left-winger, the player’s dazzling abilities have even led to his club president comparing him to Lamine Yamal, Barça’s prodigious youth talent who continues to establish himself on the world stage as one of the very best. Moreover, this comparison to the 17-year-old Spanish winger would suggest that Mofokeng is possibly ready for a big European leap.

At the moment, the report suggests that Barcelona are interested in acquiring the services of the player. It highlights that any associated transfer fee would not be significant and even that Barcelona is currently well-placed to sign the player for the club’s reserve teams.

Interestingly, Barcelona has previously started to engage in more operations linked to the region of Africa. This particular initiative will allow the Catalan club to continue identifying even more promising players from that region, but they will likely also continue to face stiff competition for players, including Mofokeng, from other teams from across Europe.

However, it is not yet confirmed if Barcelona will try to sign the player in January or if a summer move would be better for his arrival. Undoubtedly talented and considered to be the crown jewel of South African football, having already received a senior team call-up, but he still may have some things to prove before Barça make a concrete move for him.