According to reports from ESPN this morning, the release clause of Barcelona youngster Marc Bartra has been reduced from €30million to just €10million due to a lack of playing time.
The 24 year-old defender is highly rated at the Nou Camp and has registered 78 appearances across all competitions since his debut for the Catalan outfit in 2009.
He’s featured in important Champions League fixtures over the last few years but has struggled to claim a regular starting role from the likes of Gerard Pique, Javier Mascherano and Jeremy Mathieu this season.
Resultantly, the centre-back’s managed just 966 minutes in La Liga and 24 outings across all competitions. As that equates to less than 60% of Barcelona’s fixtures from the 2014/15 campaign, a clause in his contract has reduced the Spain international’s buy-out fee to a third of it’s original value – equating to around £7.1million.
According to The Metro, that’s generated interest from Tottenham Hotspur, who have been monitoring the 6 foot defender for some time, whilst Liverpool were also mooted as potential suitors in a separate Metro article published in March.
The Wes Brown of Barcelona
That’s exactly what he is.