Barça put down €3 million to ensure they have first option on Gerson

FC Barcelona have tied down the most recent diamond to appear in Brazilian football. "I never speak off the record, it's true that Barça have paid three million euros to have preferential rights to sign Gerson," Jorge Machado, agent of the Fluminense midfielder, has confirmed to SPORT. 

With this agreement, Barcelona reserve the rights to the central midfielder, 18, who has been wathced by some of Europe's biggest clubs, including Juventus. In the coming months, Fluminense president Peter Siemsen, who has personally handled the negotiations, and Barça will have to finalise a transfer, which the Brazilian press suggest will be seven million euros. 

Inside the club they say that Gerson could arrive at Camp Nou in January 2016, when the club's FIFA imposed transfer ban ends. 

"Both Gerson and I want Fluminense and Barcelona to reach a definitive agreement over the transfer," the player's father, Marco Antonio da Silva, known as Marcao, said. "This first option to buy is the first step. It is very important."

Marcao was in Barcelona in January and he spoke with the Catalan club, while his son was taking part in the U20 South American championship in Uruguay. He did not talk with Josep Maria Bartomeu, though, but with Albert Soler, Raül Sanllehi and Andre Cury. 

While in Spain, Marcao also took in Barça's 2-3 win at the Vicente Calderon, as they progressed in the Copa del Rey at the expense of Atletico Madrid. In May, Barça then paid the three million euros to Fluminense to tie down the deal. The Brazilian club would neither deny nor confirm the deal. 

"The only thing we want to make clear is that we have not sold Gerson. He is still a Fluminense player," a source at the club told SPORT. Flu own 70 percent of the player's economic rights. The remaining 30 percent is owned by investment groups. 

His conteact expires in 2019 and the club, pressured financially, are reluctantly prepared to sell him to Barcelona. An agreement is achievable. The player and his family still have a close relationship with Flu, so there will be no tension. Gerson's representatives assure that Barça are clear that they want to sign him for the first team.