In the last few seasons, FC Barcelona’s midfield has seen rapid progress. Behind Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, Rodri, Fermin Lopez, Dani Olmo, and Gavi, the Catalan club possibly boasts one of the strongest midfield pools in Europe. The club isn’t done, though, with this talented pool as they look to explore signing a 22-year-old Argentine sensation.
Recent rumours around the club has identified that Barca is interested in attacking midfielder, Nico Paz.
A Real Madrid Graduate, Paz is currently one of the hottest prospects in Europe. His move to Como from Madrid has worked perfectly in his favour, where he is getting ample minutes in the starting 11. The Argentine attacking midfielder even won the Serie A Best U23 Player for the 2024-25 season.
Paz’s stellar run has carried over to this season as well, where he has scored 4 goals and dished out 5 assists in 10 games so far, as per Transfermarkt. His standout performance this season came against Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League, where he scored 2 goals and dished an assist in a 4-1 thrashing. This performance has put the midfielder on the global radar even more, with several other clubs keeping an eye on him.
According to reports from ESPN, United and Chelsea are rumoured to be interested in Paz as well. Thus, Barcelona already has ample competition for the player. Paz’s creativity and left-footed brilliance, along with his tendency to drift into central areas from the right side, would fit perfectly in Hansi Flick’s system.
Barca does have a player of the same profile in Dani Olmo. Notably, Bayern is rightly interested in Olmo and is exploring options to pursue a deal either in the winter transfer window or next summer.
But as per Goal.com, the Catalan club doesn’t want to let Olmo go to Bayern even if a deal is put to the table. In that case, Barca would face immense difficulty to find the deal for Paz without selling any other player.
Another complication in the Nico Paz signing is a buyback clause that he has in his contract. As per the clause, Real Madrid can get him back for 66.9M Pounds (80M Euros). Notably, this clause is active only for the summer 2027 transfer window.
This clause already puts the Blaugrana on the back foot, as they cannot negotiate and finalise the deal with Como directly without Madrid’s involvement. Barcelona and sporting director Deco have been eager to sign youngsters and build for the future in recent years through long-term contracts.
In the last transfer window, Deco did wonders for the club in bringing youngsters like Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi to build for the future. So, the Blaugrana fan base can rest their faith on him to work through it, but the chances right now are immensely thin, especially if Real Madrid wants to activate the buyback clause.
