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Barcelona announced on Thursday that 19-year-old Gustavo Maia has joined the club from Brazilian side Sao Paulo for a fee of €4.5 million ($5.3m).
The teenager has signed a contract that runs until the end of June 2025 and contains a buyout clause set at €300m ($350m).
He will initially join Barcelona B but will be hoping to catch the eye of first-team boss Quique Setien and make the grade at Camp Nou.
Barcelona have offered a bit of background on their latest young starlet, who is a talented left winger, via their official website.
“Gustavo Maia is 19 years old and joined Sao Paulo at the age of 14. After three trials with the club, he was brought into their academy, and since then has scored goals and won 7 trophies at all levels. His best season in front of goal was in 2018, when he scored 30 times in 36 games.
“An international for Brazil at Under-16 and Under-17 level, he is a fast forward who usually plays on the left side -even though he is right footed. He continued to make appearances for Sao Paulo’s second team, even when called up to the senior squad. A strong dribbler, with a powerful shot, he was a standout in the Copa Junior tournament.”
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Barcelona Beat Liverpool to Maia
Maia caught the eye of top clubs across Europe after impressing in the Copinha, a youth tournament played in Brazil every January by over 100 teams.
The youngster’s agent, Nilson Moura, told Marca that Barcelona, Liverpool and Atletico Madrid were all interested but the starlet only ever wanted to play for the Catalan giants.
“There were higher offers, but he always wanted to play for Barcelona. He said it even a few years ago in an interview and we saw it well also because his style combines perfectly with that of Barça.
“[Barcelona] came to see him at the São Paulo Cup. He scored three goals and we started to negotiate. They did not even intend to close anything now but since there was interest from other clubs such as Atlético de Madrid and Liverpool , they hurried up.”
Maia is similar in style to Barcelona’s latest starlet Ansu Fati. He loves having the ball at his feet, taking defenders on and can cut inside and go for goal. He is two years older than Fati and will need to adjust to life in a new league and a new country following his arrival from Sao Paulo.
Barcelona’s Future Looking Bright
Maia is the latest youngster to arrive at Barcelona as the club continue to look to the future. Talented young forwards Francisco Trincao and Pedri will also arrive this summer and are expected to link up with the first team.
Meanwhile, Barcelona B youngsters Ronald Araujo, Riqui Puig and Fati are all expected to be officially promoted to the first-team squad for the 2020-21 season after making the breakthrough this season.
The lack of young players in Barcelona’s first-team has attracted criticism in recent seasond, but the club now appear to have a fresh batch of talented stars they will be hoping can go on and enjoy bright futures at the Camp Nou.
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