Neither Sofyan Amrabat nor Julián Araujo nor anyone else who has been on the table during the winter market. Barcelona’s priority from now on is to make Alejandro Balde a first-team contract. The club has once again found oil in the inexhaustible La Masia quarry. The 20-21 season saw the emergence of Pedri, signed from Las Palmas, in 21-22 Gavi, who still lived at the Oriol Tort residence, exploded, and this course is the consolidation of the left-back. They are 20, 18 and 19 years old, respectively. The future is here.
At only 19 years old, the boy, who still has a record from the subsidiary, has broken down the door of the first team at full speed. He sets the pace, he has plenty of legs and he has acceleration in his veins. Welcome to the vertigo of Balde, Catalan with Caribbean blood and educated in the Barça style.
At the beginning of the second half of Betis-Barça, when the game was stuck, he appeared like an exhalation on the left wing to make holes in the Betis defense. He made it to the baseline with ease, with his graceful stride and unleashed a great cross into the box. Rui Silva took the shot from Pedri.
And when Frenkie de Jong quickly took a free kick in midfield, he didn’t think twice. He gave it to Balde in the race. And the youth squad prodded through his lane. He planted himself in the area and hit a low pass to Raphinha for the Brazilian to open the scoring. “He is at a very high level. He has tremendous potential. He generates imbalances for us with driving, which is something very difficult to see in football ”, praises his coach.
Last season Xavi only gave the left back 91 minutes, spread over two games. And the planning for this season did not look very rosy for him either. Because he even sold himself to Aubameyang to bring Marcos Alonso from Chelsea, who was aiming to start. But Balde had a great preseason. And he won to stay, he won an opportunity for himself and he took advantage of it.
On the second day at Anoeta, after the 0-0 draw against Rayo, the man from Egar left the expert Alba on the bench and gave the young winger a reel. He hasn’t stopped. The coach believed it and Balde has responded, he even ended up playing the World Cup in Qatar. His evolution has been unstoppable. To the point that in the big games at the start of 2023, he has started all of them. In the Metropolitano, in the classic of the Super Cup final, in the quarterfinals of the Cup against Real Sociedad, and the duel against Villamarín was no exception.
Add 24 games, 18 of them starting, and delivered his fourth assist. With his speed, he has passed stages as if they were rivals, whom he surpasses as if they were statues. A good friend of Xavi Simons (now at PSV), the potential had always been there but what is most impressive is the pause with which he decides in the midst of a maelstrom. Calm and agility, command of the times and knowing when to be vertical. Bucket has it and the defenses suffer from it.
