PSG bring in another Barcelona player

It already hurts, because we’re talking about Paris Saint-Germain, a club that hasn’t had the best relationship with Barcelona since Neymar’s transfer—but it’s Barcelona that may feel the real pain for losing Dro Fernandez. Now, they can do nothing except scratch their heads and wonder where they went wrong, because they have no opportunity to fix it. The talented attacking midfielder is officially a member of the current European champions as of tonight. PSG proudly announced that they had “tied down” 18-year-old Fernandez with a contract running until June 2030. And although Dro had a six million release clause in his contract with Barcelona, PSG agreed to pay a bit more—around eight million—to avoid damaging the already fragile relationship with the Catalan club.

Paying a few million extra doesn’t change the fact that Nou Camp officials were surprised by the midfielders decision. The Spanish champions had huge plans for Fernandez in the future and intended to offer him a new contract when he became of age (he turned 18 on January 12), which they had communicated to his agent, Ivan de la Pena. However, since Barcelona played the Spanish Super Cup final against Real the day before Dro’s birthday, everything was delayed, and the player seemed to lose patience, deciding to leave the club before even hearing the offer.

According to Mundo Deportivo, he even told his teammates that he would continue his career in Paris, although his agent publicly denied this, stating that he was considering offers from clubs in Germany and England. In the end, however, the agent brought him to Luis Enrique, whom he also represents.

“He announced that he would not continue at Barcelona, which surprised us. It’s an uncomfortable situation. We had an agreement that he would extend his contract at 18, and then his agent said he had changed his mind. Surprisingly, his agent told us we couldn’t fulfill what we had agreed. We will try to resolve everything in the best possible way, in accordance with Barcelona’s interests” admitted Joan Laporta, Barcelona’s president, a few days ago. Dro arrived at Nou Camp at the age of 14 and made his first-team debut last September against Real Sociedad. In the meantime, he has played four more matches—three in La Liga and one in the Champions League.