Barcelona are set to be without their teenage attacking star Yusuf Demir until January due to a clause in his loan agreement.
This is the latest setback for Barca, who crashed out of the Champions League last week and boss Xavi Hernandez has pledged that the club will return to Europe’s elite within a year.
The 18-year-old is currently on a season-long loan deal at the Camp Nou from Austrian club Rapid Vienna and he has made nine first-team appearances for the club to date.
If the teenager was to play another match for the Blaugrana, that would trigger a €10million clause in the player’s contract that would automatically make the temporary move permanent.
This is something that the Catalan club are hopeful of delaying for as long as possible and until after the January transfer window, as it would eat up vital transfer funds.
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Barca’s clause to sign the teenager on a permanent basis would eat up upwards of half of their transfer budget for the upcoming transfer window.
This development is the latest blow for the Blaugrana, even though the player has started just three matches for the club to date – and just once under new boss Xavi.
Demir started in the recent Champions League meeting at home to Benfica – a crucial match which ended goalless at the Camp Nou.
That was the first game in which he had been named in the starting line-up since the scoreless draw at Cadiz in September.
The Austrian international has not scored in his nine appearances to date for Barca.
Originally signed on a loan deal for a fee of €500k, the teenager was originally designed to play for the club’s B team this season, but a host of first-team injuries have given him more opportunities.
The exits of Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann left summer depleted the club’s attacking ranks, prior to multiple injury layoffs for Sergio Aguero, Ansu Fati, Martin Braithwaite and Memphis Depay.
Demir also made substitute appearances in Ronald Koeman’s last match at the helm – October’s defeat at Rayo Vallecano – and a second half cameo in the recent Catalan derby victory over Espanyol.
He had previously played 38 first-team matches for Rapid Vienna, for whom he netted nine times, while winning four caps for the Austrian national team.
He was handed the number 11 jersey that was previously held by Ousmane Dembele at the beginning of the campaign – a signal that he would be heavily involved in this season’s fixtures.
Born in Austria to Turkish parents, Demir now looks to be out of action until February at the earliest with Barca then having to shell out a transfer fee for his signature.
