Barcelona locked down young left-back Alejandro Balde with a new contract that will take the player through June 30, 2028, and the buyout clause is set at one billion euros. The 19-year-old is a product of the La Masia youth setup and has been at Barcelona since 2011. Xavi Simmons, another La Masia product, has reposted the post with the news of Balde’s renewal at Barcelona.
Simmons left Barcelona to join Paris Saint Germain in 2019 before making his professional debut in 2021 and winning the league and Coupe de France. Simmons is one of the best midfield prospects in the world and had shown his potential at the Barcelona youth academy but left because of a disagreement with the Blaugrana management at the time. According to his entourage, the club did not give the guarantee that he would make his debut by the age of 18; he was 16 at the time.
Simmons and Balde spent many years together in the youth setup and have been great friends. “I played with Alejandro Balde, who also has an older brother, like me. We have been very good friends all our lives, and we still have a lot of contact. He was very fast.” He said this in an interview earlier this year. Simmons was rumoured to come back to Barcelona after his contract at PSG ran out, but the transfer simply did not take place. Simmons reported the post from the Barcelona official account announcing the renewal of Balde with three fingers-crossed emojis.
The midfielder isn’t settled at a club yet, as he has not yet broken into the PSG first team and has been on two loan trips away, as he went to PSV Eindhoven last season and is at RB Leipzig for this season. This story has sparked discussions among Barcelona fans about whether Simmons wants to come back to his boyhood club, as PSG has lost its spark since losing Neymar Jr. and Leo Messi.
