Barcelona plot move for Norwich City player | OneFootball

Spanish giants FC Barcelona are plotting a move for Norwich City youth player Ajay Tavares

16-year-old Norwich City forward Ajay Tavares looks to be on the cusp of a move to Catalonia to link up with FC Barcelona, following in the footsteps of a certain Sheffield United forward in doing so.

According to Spanish journalist Ferran Martinez via X, FC Barcelona look set to complete the signing of 16-year-old Norwich City winger Ajay Tavares.

Tavares holds a Portuguese passport, making him eligible to make a move abroad despite his early age, with the Spanish giants in pole position to bring him to the Nou Camp.

The young forward has featured prominently for Norwich's and England's youth sides, and now looks set to make the move to Spain, where he will enter Barcelona's La Masia system, which has produced some of the world's greatest footballers of all time, including Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Xavi, to name a few.

Tavares will likely initially link up with Barcelona's Under-19s side before moving up to Barcelona B as he progresses.

At 16, Tavares is incredibly highly rated, hence the interest in Barcelona, and Norwich may well live to regret not doing more to convince him to stay at Carrow Road, though admittedly it would've taken a lot of convincing to change his mind.

Sheffield United's loan forward Louie Barry made a similar move from West Brom in 2019, but stayed just one year abroad before moving back to England with Aston Villa, and has spent the vast portion of his young career out on loan in League Two, League One, and now the Championship.

Tavares will no doubt be hoping for much more success upon his move across the continent, and would rather replicate the feats of someone like Lamine Yamal than those of Barry.

Barcelona has one of the best academies in the world, with many arguing that it is the best, so Tavares will be provided the best platform to reach his immense potential upon the switch.

Norwich City's struggles have halted any potential professional debut for Ajay Tavares

It remains to be seen what sort of compensation fee Norwich will receive for Tavares' departure, with the move yet to go fully through but an almost forgone conclusion.

The English youth international may well have been in line to make his professional first-team debut this season, in which he would have become the club's youngest ever player, but that now looks in doubt.

Despite the array of injuries the Canaries have been dealt, Tavares has not been named in a single matchday squad. With the club struggling towards the bottom of the Championship, they may feel it to be unwise to hand him his debut in such a predicament.

There will be an air of disappointment around the Norwich fanbase that they will never see what Tavares is capable of on the pitch, but many supporters can hardly begrudge him for the move.

Now under Belgian boss Philippe Clement, the Canaries are looking to spread their wings and fly back up the second-tier table, though, unfortunately for them, it looks as though Tavares will have little part to play in those efforts.