Two La Liga sides join Turkish giants in pursuit of 26-year-old Barcelona player set to leave | OneFootball

Barcelona goalkeeper Inaki Pena appears to be seeing out his final months at the club he joined as a teenager, with a departure on the cards. The 26-year-old had waited patiently for his chance, and after replacing Marc-Andre ter Stegen last season for three months due to injury, did the same this season. Yet after Hansi Flick made the choice to hand the starting job to Wojciech Szczesny, Pena appears to be set on leaving.

He was due to begin contract talks with Barcelona in January, but those talks were put on hold after Szczesny began starting games in his place. Now it looks almost set in stone that he will depart, with his deal up in 2026. Director of Football Deco has made it an objective not to start next season with any players in the final year of their deal, with the exceptions of veterans Inigo Martinez and Robert Lewandowski.

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Recently it emerged that Galatasaray, where Pena spent six months on loan three seasons ago, are interested in Pena, but Sport say that he will have offers from the Premier League and La Liga too. Real Betis have secured the signature of Alvaro Valles for next season, and he is set to be their starter, but are keen to bring in an alternative too. After Betis allowed Vitor Roque to leave for Palmeiras, breaking his loan agreement, Barcelona are willing to negotiate on favourable terms.

While Pau Victor is also on the Betis agenda, Barcelona would potentially even allow Pena to move on a free to Seville if they retained a percentage of his sell-on fee. Meanwhile Celta Vigo are also unsure of their at the position, with no agreement on a renewal with veteran Vicente Guaita. If he leaves, Pena is one of their favoured options.

Moving to Balaidos would likely offer Pena a starting role, something that he likely wouldn’t have at Betis, and would come with more difficulty at Galatasaray. At 26 years of age, it would be no surprise if that swung the balance for Pena, who has not enjoyed regular starting football since his Barca Atletic days. Barcelona appear unlikely to demand much in the way of compensation.