Barcelona have re-signed former academy starlet Kays Ruiz-Atil on a free transfer after his contract with Paris Saint-Germain expired.
As confirmed by the club’s official website, Kays Ruiz-Atil is now a Barcelona player after running down his contract with Paris Saint-Germain. The 18-year-old has penned a three-year deal with the Catalan giants, with an option of an additional two years.
Ruiz-Atil spent six years at Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy between 2009 and 2015, having joined the club from the Olympique Lyon youth setup. However, following the Catalans’ FIFA sanctions due to illegal signings of underage players, the young midfielder moved to PSG, where he went on to make rapid strides.
Ruiz-Atil broke into the senior team at PSG last season, going on to make his debut in September 2020 under then-manager Thomas Tuchel. The young attacking midfielder went on to feature six more times but was exiled from the senior team from December onwards because of his unwillingness to sign a new contract with Les Parisiens despite attempts from the club to get him to pen an extension.
Ruiz-Atil became a free agent on the 30th of June when his contract with PSG officially expired. While there had been reports of interest from Chelsea, where he could have reunited with Tuchel, Barcelona seemed the favourites to land the 18-year-old prodigy for quite some time now.
? Estadi Johan Cruyff
?❤️ ¡Bienvenido de nuevo a casa, Kays!#ForçaBarça ?❤️ pic.twitter.com/zRTXBKmrJh
— FC Barcelona B (@FCBarcelonaB) July 12, 2021
And the Catalans have confirmed the recapture of Ruiz-Atil, announcing the deal on Monday evening. As per the announcement made by the club, the 18-year-old attacking midfielder has signed a three-year contract with an option of a further 24 months. The youngster will be lining up for Barcelona’s B team under new manager Sergi Barjuan.
The contract also contains a release clause worth €50 million, which will get doubled to €100 million when he becomes a member of the Blaugrana first-team.
Ruiz-Atil becomes the latest addition to Barcelona’s B team this summer, following in the footsteps of Ferran Jutgla and Yusuf Demir, who arrived from Rapid Vienna on an initial loan deal with an option to make the transfer permanent next year. The Catalan giants have also signed Jordi Escobar from Almeria on a similar arrangement to that of Demir.
