Marlon Santos' promotion to Barça's first team picks up speed
His performance against Las Palmas shows he's ready to be given a chance
The club have shown their satisfaction to Pep Segura, who discovered the defender
Marlon Santos' performance against Las Palmas did not go unnoticed by Barcelona. The Brazilian defender's display, which was praised by Luis Enrique and Roberto Fernandez, could accelerate his progression to the first team. The club have expressed their satisfaction to Pep Segura, who discovered the player, and feel the player could become the first 'signing' the club make this summer, with him occupying one of four centre-back slots in the first team next season.
As revealed by SPORT in January, the club have decided to exercise their option to sign the centre-back from Fluminense this summer. The clause to buy the 21-year-old is around 6 million euros. As SPORT revealed, though, Barça's plan was to confirm the deal before the end of 2016, to avoid paying an additional two million euros in the case he played five first team games.
And that's what happened. In December, Globoesporte.com revealed that Barça had paid Fluminense 1.5 million euros, with the final 500,000 euros due in June, when the current campaign ends. Barcelona only have to pay two million euros to FLu because, in 2015, they paid 3.2 million euros for the first option on Gerson (who ended up at Roma), another 400,000 euros for the first option on Kenedy (who joined Chelsea) and 400,000 euros for the first option on Marlon.
