Purchased from Toulouse back in 2017 for a fee of around £10m, Martin Braithwaite never quite managed to settle at Middlesbrough.
It didn’t matter who the manager was, the Denmark international only managed 40 appearances for the Riverside club, scoring nine goals along the way.
This led to loans at both Bordeaux in Ligue 1 and Leganés in La Liga, with the latter going well enough that they bought him outright for just under £9m last summer.
Since then, he’s scored eight goals in 27 appearances this season, which is enough to help him get on Barcelona’s radar, as they have finally been given the green light to buy a forward outside the transfer window as an emergency to replace Ousmane Dembélé.
The latest, it seems, is now Martin Braithwaite, with AS explaining he’s the latest name to be mentioned in the Barcelona environment.
They reveal the former Middlesbrough man has a release clause of €20m, which is twice as much as Ángel, who plays for Getafe.
As well as Braithwaite, players such as Mallorca’s Ante Budimir, Levante’s Roger Martí and ex-Arsenal forward Lucas Pérez are other options.
It’s said Barcelona want to get the transfer done on Monday, or, at the latest, Tuesday.
If the Dane does end up in Catalonia, it will be quite the eight months or so for him, going from unwanted at Middlesbrough to playing alongside Lionel Messi at the Nou Camp.
