Agreement in place for Balde to extend Barça contract until 2027

Just over a year ago, Barcelona were hoping that Jorge Mendes would bring the club a good offer for Alejandro Balde. A year later, the full-back has agreed his renewal with the Catalan club after becoming one of the great revelations of the season.

Balde convinced Xavi of his worth on the tour of the United States and stayed with the first team. After being a substitute in the first LaLiga game against Rayo Vallecano, the Barça coach opted for the left-back, who was in the best form at the time. And since the second game of the season at Anoeta against Real Sociedad, Balde has been his first choice on the left flank ahead of Jordi Alba and Marcos Alonso, who arrived in the summer from Chelsea.

The Catalan defender, who was even called up by Luis Enrique for the World Cup in Qatar, has made 41 appearances this season, providing seven assists and scoring one goal -- against Espanyol at the RCDE Stadium on Sunday.

His spectacular performances attracted the attention of important clubs in Europe but the sporting management got down to work to improve and extend his contract, as Balde has played this season with a reserve team registration and also with a salary in line with Barça Atlètic players.

Negotiations have been lengthy, but always taking into account the player's desire to continue at Barça -- and the renewal has already been agreed. Balde, who has a contract until 30 June 2024, will remain at the club until 2027. His termination clause will become 1 billion euros, like that of other young players at the club: Araujo, Gavi, Pedri, Ferran Torres and Ansu Fati.

Viability plan

The agreement between the two parties is awaiting LaLiga's acceptance of the viability plan presented by Barça. LaLiga's delegated commission meets this Friday and the Blaugrana hopes to receive the go-ahead from the clubs' employers' association. It will then be when the renewal agreed with Balde can be finalised and Barça will be able to secure a left-back for many years to come.

The acceptance of the viability plan by LaLiga will mean that the club will automatically be able to register the contracts of the players they have been renewing. This is the case of Gavi, Araujo, Sergi Roberto, Marcos Alonso and Iñaki Peña. They will be joined by Balde.