{"id":6250,"date":"2026-04-17T12:16:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T12:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/6250\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T12:16:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T12:16:07","slug":"barcelona-given-second-chance-to-sign-former-academy-star-for-e12million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/6250\/","title":{"rendered":"Barcelona given second chance to sign former academy star for \u20ac12million"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Barcelona are once again exploring the market for full-back reinforcements, and a familiar name has resurfaced \u2013 Alejandro Grimaldo.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sport.es\/es\/noticias\/barca\/grimaldo-prepara-salida-bayer-barca-129208934\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">SPORT<\/a>, Barcelona are closely monitoring the situation of the Bayer Leverkusen left-back, who is increasingly likely to leave the Bundesliga side this summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With just one year remaining on his contract, the outlet mentions that Grimaldo could be available for a fee below \u20ac12 million, making him one of the most attractive low-cost defensive options in the summer.<\/p>\n<p>The Spanish defender is believed to be open to a new challenge, and crucially, he is prioritising a return to Spain.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There is significant interest<\/p>\n<p>That preference puts Barcelona, and potentially Atletico Madrid, in a strong position if they decide to act.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>However, as one can suspect, interest is not limited to La Liga, with Juventus and AC Milan also tracking his availability.<\/p>\n<p>For Barcelona, Grimaldo was already on their radar last summer as they searched for a reliable alternative to Alejandro Balde.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At one point, the club had even moved close to securing an agreement, but the deal ultimately collapsed as they failed to offload Gerard Martin.<\/p>\n<p>Things have changed at Barcelona<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/bayer-04-leverkusen-v-vfl-wolfsburg-bundesliga-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-197179\"  \/>Alejandro Grimaldo is ready to leave Bayer Leverkusen. (Photo by Pau Barrena\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>Fast forward to now, and the story has changed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Barcelona\u2019s sporting department is once again reviewing the full-back positions, with changes expected as part of a broader squad restructure.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Yet, the hierarchy has evolved, as Gerard Martin has become a valuable asset that the club are reluctant to lose.<\/p>\n<p>As far as Balde\u2019s situation is concerned, although Barcelona are not actively pushing him out, <a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/barcelona-not-ruling-out-the-sale-of-homegrown-defender-amid-man-united-liverpool-interest\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">they remain open to offers<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That said, no serious proposals have materialised, and the player himself has shown no intention of leaving.<\/p>\n<p>This leaves Barcelona in a tough position.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This is because Grimaldo represents a cost-effective, experienced option who understands the club\u2019s philosophy, having come through their youth system.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, though, the club would not want Balde\u2019s development to be affected either.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barcelona are once again exploring the market for full-back reinforcements, and a familiar name has resurfaced \u2013 Alejandro&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4211,92,222,223],"class_list":["post-6250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-barcelona","tag-alejandro-grimaldo","tag-barcelona","tag-barcelona-news","tag-fc-barcelona"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}