Barcelona’s 17-year-old defensive pearl subject of enquiry from La Liga rivals | OneFootball

The summer transfer window officially opened earlier today and all eyes are on Barcelona, especially around the team’s defence.

Joan Laporta and Co. are under pressure to make big sales this month, and the defensive unit is seen as the department with the most surplus resources. Any big sale, naturally, will likely involve players from the back line.

While Ronald Araujo and Jules Kounde have widely been linked with exits, it now appears that European clubs also have their eyes on the younger players at the club.

Hours after Marc Guiu’s transfer to Chelsea, Hector Fort’s continuity appears threatened.

Alaves alert

As revealed in a recent update via SPORT, Deportivo Alaves have conveyed their interest in signing Fort this summer and see him as a valuable addition ahead of the 2024-25 campaign.

The Vitoria-based side see the youngster to be an option who will strengthen both full-back positions for them, and thereby, kill two birds with one stone.

Hector Fort on Alaves’ radars. (Photo by ANDER GILLENEA/AFP via Getty Images)

After all, Fort is naturally a right-back but showed great maturity on the left for Barcelona last season. As such, Alaves have lodged an enquiry for the teenager with a view to take him on loan for next season.

The report furthers that the Catalans are currently in no rush to make a decision over Fort’s future and prefer to defer the decision until the player displays his talent in pre-season under Hansi Flick.

Unwilling to compromise

While Fort was a regular with the Barcelona first-team last season, he was not a full-time member of the squad and was called up from the Primera RFEF.

As relayed by the Spanish outlet, he is now unwilling to return to the lower division and believes he has done enough to stick around at the elite level. He signed a new contract with the club earlier this year but it is yet to be registered.

The full-back’s continuity, thus, will solely revolve around Flick’s belief in him and how the pre-season turns out for him later this month.

Should he not see a place for himself in the manager’s dynamics, he will consider the prospect of a move away on loan.