Official: Barcelona confirm signing of Marlon Santos from Fluminense
The Brazilian defender signs a three-year deal with the Catalan club
He's impressed with the B team & has played three first team games
Barcelona have confirmed Marlon Santos will stay at the club on a permanent deal after impressing while on a season long loan. The Catalan club made the transfer official on Wednesday, with the defender agreeing a three year deal.
The reality, though, is that the announcement is just a formality. The two clubs have long since agreed that Marlon would complete his move to Barça and he is expected to form part of Ernesto Valverde's first team next season.
SPORT revealed in January that the deal had been closed after the Blaugrana paid Fluminense, the club he'd been on loan from. Barça only had to pay two million euros of the six million fee because they'd already paid the Brazilian side four million for the first option on several players.
GROWTH AT Barça
Marlon has been one of the star performers in Gerard Lopez's B team this season, playing a total of 24 games -- it would have been more had he not been with the first team so often.
His performances for the reserve team saw him make three appearances in the first team. He made his debut in the Champions League against Celtic and at the end of the season started games against Eibar and Las Palmas with Gerard Pique, Javier Mascherano and Jeremy Mathieu all absent.
