Borussia Dortmund have set their sights on 20-year-old Barcelona B central defender Mika Marmol, as they scout the world for more interesting young players to add to their ranks.
Barcelona’s La Masia is famed for the talent it produces. The past decade-and-a half, however, has seen the talent production from the famed academy take a nosedive.
But a lucky resurgence in the past few years has seen the club sign interesting youngsters in their early to late teens and groom them into the stars that La Masia is famed for producing.
Some of these players, together with a talented crop from the club’s Juvenil systems are now making a statement in the senior team.
Ansu Fati, Riqui Puig, Ronald Araujo, Oscar Mingueza were the first of the new generation to breakthrough. More recently, Pablo Paez Gavira alias Gavi, Nico Gonzalez, Alejandro Balde, Abdessamad Ezzalzouli alias Ez Abde and Ferran Jutgla are now making a name for themselves with the senior team.
There are other youngsters who Barcelona have great faith in and are currently on the fringes of the senior team, like Alex Collado, Ilias Akhomach, and Mika Marmol, who Borussia Dortmund is looking to tempt away from Barcelona with senior football.
Dortmund looking for loan with option to buy for Marmol
Marmol is a left-footed central defender like Clement Lenglet and Samuel Umtiti. The 20-year-old is currently the third option for a left-footed central defender should manager Xavi Hernandez have an absolute need to play with one.
He could also find himself in the first team dynamics earlier than he expects as both Lenglet and Umtiti are not certain to remain Barcelona players for longer.
The Barcelona B defender, who signed from Spanish minnow club Jabac in 2018 has grabbed the attention of the expert talent spotters at BVB, who are looking to take the youngster to Germany on loan but with an option to buy for €10 million.
Reports from El Nacional claim that Barça president Joan Laporta is mulling over the proposal because the offer is a substantial one for a player with no senior football experience.
The offer, however, shows how good La Masia talents currently are and how profitable the academy can be for the club who is dealing with financial troubles.
The reports, however, claim that manager Xavi will make the final call on the deal as he has the player in his plans.