OFFICIAL: Barca beat Real Madrid to sign €20m Spanish prospect

FT Desk

• 4 Mar 2022 21:54 GMT
• 3 min read

Barcelona have beaten Real Madrid to the signing of an exciting young Spanish prospect before the summer transfer window has even opened.

Racing star Pablo Torre has agreed to join the club from Racing Santander on a deal worth €5 million initially, which could rise to €20m in total.

Torre has signed a four-year deal with Barca that expires in 2026.

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The 18-year-old attacking midfielder is considered one of Spanish football’s most exciting prospects and was reportedly offered the opportunity to make the move to Madrid, but has instead opted for Barca.

Why has Pablo Torre picked Barca over Madrid?

The young midfielder has been in exceptional form for Racing since breaking into their first team, with no less than 10 goals and 12 assists in his first 48 games for the club.

According to Marca, the midfielder had attracted interest from Real Sociedad, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Arsenal and Ajax, as well as Madrid.

However, the key piece of information here seems to be the fact that the young star shares the same agent as the current Barca manager, Xavi.

As such, it would seem as though a deal between Racing and Barca was easily facilitated by Torre’s agent, with the player knowing fine well what his future manager thinks of him.

When will Torre join Barca?

Despite his success at Racing, Torre is still playing in the third tier of Spanish football with his current club and is presumably not ready to make the step up to Barca’s first team yet.

According to reports in Spain, Torre could stay at Racing next season if they win promotion to the Segunda and then join Barca at a later date.

However, given the rapid rise of Pedri after arriving from Las Palmas in 2020, nothing can be discounted.