Zero minutes since the start of the season
Six wins from six. More than four goals a game. Hansi Flick’s Barcelona have made the kind of start that shuts down arguments before they begin, and the squad has ridden that wave together. Almost all of it, anyway.
Alejandro Balde has not played a single minute this season. The Spain left-back chose to stay put over the summer, after a tense end to the window filled with exit rumours and pointed public criticism from his coach. He knew the decision would drop him behind Joao Cancelo.
What came next was harsher than that. Xavi Espart, the academy product, took the spot from the opening whistle of game one and has not given it back. Balde is third choice on the left now.
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40 million euros, and Liverpool circling
Catalan paper Sport reports that a winter exit looks more likely by the week. Barca would want around 40 million euros for the 22-year-old, who is contracted until 2028.
Liverpool are the front-runners. Sport also claims Andoni Iraola rates the full-back highly. Relations between the two clubs have been warm since Araujo’s move this summer, which never hurts when talks open. Inter and Manchester United both circled in the last window and could come back in.
One diary entry is worth watching. Jorge Mendes, the player’s agent, was expected in Barcelona on Monday and could put the question to Deco straight away. Nothing has been settled.
Third choice at 22
Rewind eighteen months and the Barcelona-born defender was rated among the best young left-backs anywhere in Europe. A fixture at Camp Nou. A Spain international. On paper, none of that has changed.
Cancelo’s return and Espart’s rise rewrote the picture in a matter of weeks. Losing a full season at 22 is an expensive way to learn a lesson about squad hierarchies. The January window opens on 1 January.
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