La Masia is unanimously considered one of the best training centers on the planet. Year after year, the Catalan club’s training center produces talents who feed the first team, or other clubs in Spain and Europe. Obviously, we talk a lot about Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsi or even Dro Fernandez, a brand new recruit from PSG. But other slightly less publicized players who have just left the Blaugrana academy are doing well at the moment. This is the case of Jan Virgili, who went to Mallorca last summer.
If the Balearic team is having a fairly disappointing season – with a fourteenth place in the La Liga standings – the 19-year-old left winger is one of the rare satisfactions at the moment in Son Moix. Arriving at the end of the summer transfer window, not being in Hansi Flick’s plans and without experience at the highest level, he very quickly established himself and made a place in the La Liga team. The transition from D3 where he played with Barça Atlètic to the elite of Spanish football was not felt, and we can clearly consider him to be the best offensive player of the island team currently.
Virgili rather than Rashford?
An excellent dribbler, he displays a disconcerting ability to make a difference in the final meters. He is also often able to make the right choice up front, and his 6 assists in 17 La Liga games are proof of this. An explosion that was clearly not expected from Barça, where we were aware of the player’s talent, but we did not expect to see him perform so quickly at this level. Internally at Barça, we are amazed, as indicated Sport. The 4 million paid by Mallorca last summer has already proven to be an excellent deal for the Islanders, while FC Barcelona will receive 50% of a future transfer, and retains a preferential option of a possible sale. His release clause is estimated at 30 million euros, but Barça could bring him back for 25 million.
An interesting option, at a time when FC Barcelona is considering permanently signing Marcus Rashford. For the moment, the club’s objective is to exercise the 30 million purchase option from the Englishman, even if it is not completely unanimous internally. We also know that a return of Virgili could be a more interesting option than keeping the player who still belongs to the Red Devils. The Spanish international hopeful would thus be cheaper, would receive a lower salary, he is 9 years younger than Rashford and he has the Masia label. Suffice to say that in Barcelona, we are thinking about it very seriously…
