Alejandro Balde is reconsidering his future at Barcelona after meeting with his agent Jorge Mendes, according to SPORT. The 22-year-old left-back is of interest to Manchester United, although club sources have played down their chances of signing him during this summer transfer window.
Barcelona value their academy graduate at around £30million, according to sources in Spain, and are not interested in loaning him out this summer.
La Masia left-back history
Barcelona have a recent history of developing left-backs, with both options in the World Cup-winning Spain squad coming through La Masia. However, neither Alex Grimaldo nor Marc Cucurella made more than one first-team appearance before being sold.
Respected Barcelona-based journalist Dani Senabre has cited both examples as reasons to keep Balde. Speaking on the Spanish radio station COPE, he said: "It would be bad for me if we ran the risk of what already happened when Grimaldo left or when Cucurella left. Which is that in two or three years, Balde triumphs at Manchester United or Benfica, wherever, and you say, we had him here, we let him escape."
Past departures
Cucurella and Grimaldo played a combined 146 times for Barcelona Atletic. However, that translated into just a single senior outing between them before leaving their boyhood club for good. The former made a late cameo in their Copa del Rey round of 32 first-leg tie against third-tier side Real Murcia.
Cucurella returned to playing for their reserves before going on loan to Eibar, who signed him permanently for around £2million, only for Barca to buy him back for double that fee barely a fortnight later. Within two days, Getafe loaned him for the following season before going on to sign him permanently for £5million. Real Madrid paid Chelsea over ten times that amount to sign Cucurella this summer.
As for Grimaldo, he spent four seasons with Barcelona's reserves before joining Benfica for just over £1million as he approached the final six months of his contract. He went on to make over 300 appearances across all competitions for the Lisbon club before joining Bayer Leverkusen. Grimaldo has returned to Spain this summer with Atletico Madrid.
Balde's first-team role
Balde, by contrast, spent just a single season with Barca B before impressing in pre-season and becoming the first team's main backup to Jordi Alba. He has since made 168 first-team appearances, but Xavi Espart started their La Liga opener at left-back, with Joao Cancelo among the substitutes, and Balde left out entirely.
