Marcos Alonso signs for a season with Barcelona

Marcos Alonso signs for a season with Barcelona


FC Barcelona announced on Friday evening the signing of full-back Marcos Alonso for one season after the player terminated his contract with Chelsea.

"The player will sign a contract until June 30, 2023 and will have a €50m release clause," Barca said in a statement.

The arrival of the Spanish international side (9 caps) was only awaiting formalization after Marcos Alonso trained with Barca on Friday afternoon.

Alonso, as well as Héctor Bellerín, announced the day before, will come to reinforce the flanks of Barça.

"Marcos is a player of a certain age, but he has won a lot in the Premier League, he is versatile, he can play in several positions," coach Xavi said at a press conference on Friday. "We needed to strengthen the full-backs and I think the club did a great job of that," he added.

The 31-year-old Alonso, trained at Real Madrid, arrives in Barcelona after spending six seasons at Chelsea, which he joined from Italian club Fiorentina. In England he also played for Bolton and Sunderland.

In six seasons, he played 212 matches with the English club, winning the English championship (in 2017), the Europa League (in 2019) and the Champions League (in 2021).

But Alonso, who can also evolve to the positions of piston or left midfielder, has not played any official meeting with Chelsea since the start of the season, barred in particular by competition with Ben Chilwell and the recruitment of Marc Cucurella this summer from of Brighton for around 65M EUR.

At Barça, he will be in competition with Jordi Alba, indisputable holder of Barça for 10 years and partner in the selection.

He is the second player from the London club to join Catalonia during this transfer window, after the free arrival of central defender Andreas Christensen in early July.

"It's very special to play for the team where my father had success and that's another important reason for me to be here," he told club media.

His father, named after him, Marcos Alonso, played as a striker at FC Barcelona between 1982 and 1987. "I remember he used to take me to the Camp Nou to watch the matches, and today be here is amazing,” he added.

FC Barcelona thus registers its sixth recruit during this off-season, after Jules Koundé (FC Sevilla), Andreas Christensen (Chelsea), Franck Kessié (AC Milan), Raphinha (Leeds) and Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich).

With a debt of around 1.35 billion euros last season, Barça activated several economic levers to quickly obtain liquidity and thus be active on the market, with in particular a loan of 595 M EUR from Goldman Sachs and a sponsorship agreement with Spotify for approximately EUR 435m.



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