Exclusive: Barcelona monitoring U-19 Euro Player of the Tournament | OneFootball

FC Barcelona have never been shy about pursuing aspiring young talents in the past. Despite having one of the world’s most successful youth academies, the Catalan giants are always eager to invest in young players. For years, this strategy has worked quite well for Barcelona.

Even in the current squad, players such as Pedri have become key players in the first team despite not hailing from La Masia. While this strategy does not always yield the ideal results, with players like Noah Darvich no longer being guaranteed a future at Barcelona, it is still something that does not carry a lot of risk but can lead to a big reward with patience.

Dutch talent manages to intrigue Barcelona

According to our sources, moreover, another name has now caught the attention of FC Barcelona. Hailing from the Netherlands, 19-year-old Dutch midfielder Kees Smit is a player who has managed to intrigue Barça and other major European clubs as well.

In fact, our sources suggest that the Catalan club has already checked the status of the 19-year-old midfielder who plays for AZ Alkmaar at the club level. Barcelona scouts have followed a lot of his matches, and the player himself would be open to the possibility of joining Barcelona.

However, his current club wishes to extend his contract, and the player is inclined to that idea as well. In turn, that would strengthen AZ Alkmaar’s position when discussing a potential transfer for the player, and they could go as far as demanding a fee in the region of €25-30 million for him.

Already making a name for himself

Photo Courtesy: UEFA Men’s Youth

As for the player’s quality, he is quite simply a sensational young talent. Just recently, he was named the Player of the Tournament following the conclusion of the Under-19s European Championship that he ended up winning with the Netherlands.

As one of the competition’s top goal-scorers and notable for his elegant dribbling and technique, it was not shocking to see him be named the Player of the Tournament.

However, his performances have been noticed by clubs apart from Barcelona as well, with the likes of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Liverpool all closely monitoring his development.

While it is definitely an interesting operation to follow, Barça’s immediate aspirations lie in certain exits from the club. Ansu Fati’s exit to Monaco, for instance, is quite advanced already, and Barcelona president Joan Laporta even provided an update on it recently.