FC Barcelona Star Fermin Lopez Could Leave For Free After Madrid Rout

Fermin Lopez could leave FC Barcelona for free next summer, with his contract situation predicted to become a hot topic in the Camp Nou offices over the course of the following 11 months.

Lopez was sent to start preseason training with Xavi Hernandez’s first team earlier in July and impressed the legendary midfielder enough to be included in a 32-man squad that traveled to the United States for a tour of friendlies last week.

Though there are other youngsters in the group, Lopez and Lamine Yamal have been the only youth team players deployed by Xavi on American soil thus far.

They both had minutes in a 5-3 loss to Arsenal midweek as Lopez made his Barca debut.

But on Saturday at Cowboys Stadium, it was solely Lopez that got the nod to enter the fray in El Clasico against Real Madrid.

Across a mere 24 minutes during the second half when replacing Pedri, the 20-year-old convinced Xavi he should form part of his plans for the 2023/2024 season as confirmed post-match.

Barca were defending a slender 1-0 lead thanks to a Ousmane Dembele opener on 15 minutes when Lopez was introduced, with Madrid hitting the woodwork on numerous occasions as MVP Marc-Andre ter Stegen pulled off a string of top saves.

On 85 minutes, however, his skipper Sergi Roberto laid a straightforward pass into Lopez’s path which was duly smashed into the top corner.

In stoppage time, he then sealed the perfect evening by setting up Ferran Torres and helping make it 3-0.

Lopez is naturally the talk of the football world this weekend through his dazzling goal and assist display, with Xavi speaking highly of him in a post-match interview as well.

As Pol Ballus from The Athletic pointed out, though, the ex-Linares loanee is a free agent after June 30, 2024.

Ballus predicted that Lopez’s contractual situation is “not going to take much more to be a hot case at Barcelona’s senior offices” should he continue progressing at his current rate.

He could echo the trajectory of fellow La Masia graduate and Andalusian Gavi – who was likewise snatched away from the Real Betis academy in the mid-2010s – by emerging out of nowhere to become a star of the future for the Catalans.

Barca were keen to have Gavi commit to them through a new contract that comes with a €1 billion ($1.1 billion) release clause, yet the club’s economic woes have found them struggling to register his new terms and those of other existing stars plus new signings.

That predicament put the likes of Bayern Munich and Chelsea on alert and pushed them to make approaches for the reigning Golden Boy.

Lopez might attract similar interest from the European elite while ever he is not tied down until a year of president Joan Laporta’s choosing towards the end of the decade, and Barca should act quickly to navigate Financial Fair Play limits before ensuring Gavi and Lopez are theirs for many a moon.