A name nobody saw coming
Mirza Catovic. Remember it, or don’t.
The 19-year-old midfielder has joined Barcelona on loan from Stuttgart. There is an option to buy attached, though it only kicks in if sporting targets are hit, which is another way of saying Barca are not tying themselves down to anything.
He is not being thrown into the first team either. He is heading for the B side.
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The Bardghji method
None of this is new. Last summer the Catalan club did exactly the same thing with Roony Bardghji, taking a young talent from abroad, tucking him into the system and leaving him to grow away from the spotlight.
Catovic fits the blueprint. He plays between the lines. He is tidy on the ball. He is 19.
La Masia still produces, but Barcelona worked out a while back that the academy can no longer stock a squad at this level on its own. So the club shops elsewhere for high-upside players, on terms that keep the downside small.
A quiet end to the window in Barcelona
While the Premier League burned through its last millions on Tuesday, Barca were browsing the quieter aisles.
After the surprise arrival of Gabriel Jesus, the summer closes with a loan for a teenager. It won’t hold the headlines past Wednesday morning. Two seasons from now, that might read differently.
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