In case you weren’t aware, Manchester United have been going around poaching a couple of players from Barcelona’s and Real Madrid’s academies over the past year.
Marc Jurado and Álvaro Fernandez have both been signed from the two Spanish giants, and while they aren’t close to the first-team yet, there’s hope they will be down the line.
However, Barcelona are considering taking their revenge in the future, all depending on what Manchester United decide on what they want to do with Arnau Puigmal.
The Spanish midfielder, who arrived from Espanyol’s youth team during the 2017-18 season, has been used at right-back of late in the Premier League clubs youth team, which is an area the Catalan’s B team are allegedly trying to reinforce.
This comes from Sport, who explain Barcelona’s aim is to strengthen their second team, closely following Puigmal in the process.
They attempted to sign him at 16, but the player opted to try his luck at Manchester United instead, where he is now, according to them, ‘the most outstanding player’ in their U23s.
Puigmal’s contract at Old Trafford expires next summer, but the intention from Barcelona’s end ‘is to negotiate with United so he can arrive in January’.
They like his versatility a lot, and the youngster ‘would welcome a return to Spain’, having matured a lot during his time in England but now wanting ’to take a step forward in his professional football career’.
We’ll have to wait and see what those in charge of Manchester United have to say about all this, but Sport end their article by saying Barcelona ‘are optimistic that Arnau will be able to wear their shirt next January’.
