Barcelona reach agreement on terms for 21-year-old central defender

Barcelona have reached an agreement with Los Angeles FC to sign Mamadou Mbacke on a permanent deal, after he spent the season on loan at Barca Atletic. The Blaugrana will bring the 21-year-old back in to be a key part of Rafael Marquez’s side again next season.

According to Sport, Barcelona will sign Mbacke for around €2m, with only the signatures missing on the deal. Mbacke will likely play for Barca Atletic, although the same source warn that a good offer could see him leave this summer.

Barcelona had a €7m buy option on the Senegalese, but managed to negotiate a lower price. Although it looked as if they would not go out of their way to sign Mbacke, after missing out on 16-year-old Jorthy Mokio, who has signed for Ajax on a free, the call was made to go after Mbacke instead.

Last season he played 22 times for Marquez, and was a starter for the majority of his time, despite competition from Mikayil Faye and Pau Cubarsi at various points. Mbacke was unavailable for the first ten matches due to registration issues, and missed the last five games with an ankle injury, which is likely to keep him out until September.