Barcelona join race for 16-year-old Portuguese wonderkid | OneFootball

Over the past few seasons, driven more by need rather than desire, FC Barcelona have been forced to rely a lot on youngsters in their first team to remain competitive. Luckily for the Catalan club, La Masia has been in overdrive in terms of the production of big talents for the future.

The sheer number of players who have broken into the Barcelona first team in recent seasons at ages as young as 16, 17, or even 18 is absolutely ridiculous. Obviously, the biggest talent to have come through the academy in recent years is Lamine Yamal.

However, integrating young talents doesn’t always have to be limited to La Masia, as Barcelona demonstrated earlier this season with the signing of Pau Víctor from Girona and, a few years ago, Pedri from Las Palmas. It seems the club might be looking to follow a similar path once again.

As per SPORT, Barcelona are among many European clubs interested in signing talented 16-year-old Portuguese wonderkid, Cardoso Varela. Having made a name for himself playing in the Porto academy, Varela is currently without a club.

Having left Porto back in the summer, Varela tried to sign for the Croatian 4th Division side Dinamo Gdranski but the Portuguese club decided to appeal to FIFA to block his transfer citing that the player was only 15 years of age.

However, the youngster has now turned 16 and is free to negotiate a professional contract with any club of his choice and many European clubs including Barcelona are vying for his signature. The young Portuguese talent loves to play on the left side of the attack but is comfortable using either foot.

Several Bundesliga clubs are reportedly very interested in signing Varela, making it a challenging transfer for Barcelona. However, the report states that the Catalan club has no intention of giving up and will fight for his signature until the very end.

Having already represented the under-17 side 22 times, Varela clearly possesses immense talent. If Barcelona manage to sign him, he would be an excellent addition to their youth ranks, with the potential to make the leap to the first team in the future. Only time will tell how his journey unfolds.