Barcelona have been forced to act on the fly to cover injuries and exits in midfield this summer, and it has had a knock-on effect down the chain at La Masia. One of the beneficiaries has been USMNT youth international Pedro Soma.
Soma, 18, has five caps and two goals for the under-20 USA side, and was plying his trade at Cornella until late in this transfer window, when Barcelona came in for him. They secured a season-long loan for Soma, and now Matteo Moretto has revealed that they have an option to buy Soma for €800k plus add-ons for 80% of his rights.
Soma has so far been used twice for Barca Atletic off the bench, mostly backing up Pau Prim, and has also featured twice for the under-19 side in the UEFA Youth League. With Marc Bernal slated to be an important part of the first team this season, his injury caused Barcelona to to improvise with the signing of Soma.
Prim is the next in line in that position to move up from Barca Atletic to the first team as things stand, and Barcelona were keen to cover his absence in case he is used. That said, so far Hansi Flick has preferred to use Eric Garcia and Marc Casado there than Prim. Now that Soma is at Barcelona though, he will be fighting for his shot, with the likes of Ferran Jutgla and Pau Victor showing it is possible to catapult your career at Barca Atletic.
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