Barcelona youngster set to join Spanish club in €2-3 million permanent transfer

Barcelona youngster set to join Spanish club in €2-3 million permanent transfer In an important development, Mundo Deportivo reports that FC Barcelona goalkeeper Áron Yaakobishvili, 20, is close to completing his move to UD Almeria. The Andalusian club will pay between €2 million and €3 million for the La Masia graduate, while Barça will retain 50–60% of the player’s rights. The Barcelona academy goalkeeper has chosen García Pimienta’s project to get regular playing time and gain experience with a team that will be fighting to return to the top flight after last season’s relegation. Barcelona’s goalkeeping situation As reported earlier this week , the Hungarian goalkeeper preferred to leave Barcelona rather than becoming the the third goalkeeper for the first team. This leaves Hansi Flick with the option of choosing his third shot-stopper between Eder Aller and Iker Rodriguez, who is still a youth player, with the latter seeming to have the edge as things stand . Iker Rodriguez will be the third-choice goalkeeper. (Photo courtesy: Instagram/@ikerrodriguez.01) The two are expected to share goalkeeping duties for Barça Atletic alongside Max Bonfill, 19. This season, the third-goalkeeper role will not be as fixed as it has been in previous years. Instead, the club plans to rotate them so they can all get competitive minutes with the reserve team. Yaakobishvili chooses playing time Yaakobishvili took his time considering some of the first offers that arrived and began preseason with the first team after returning from his loan spell at Andorra, where he was a starter for a significant part of the season. Set to join Almeria (Photo courtesy: X/@fcandorra) A goalkeeper with quality and personality, the Hungarian came on in the second half of the friendly against Birmingham City and saved two penalties in the shootout, which Barcelona ultimately lost 3-2 on penalties. The 20-year-old shot-stopper did not play in the triangular tournament in Udine last week. If he had preferred to stay, the club would also have accepted that decision. But Yaakobishvili wants to play regularly and has decided to sign for Almeria. The move to the Andalusian club will give him the opportunity to gain regular minutes and continue his development, while Barça will still retain some degree of control over his future.