FC Barcelona has secured the renewal of Xavi Espart until 2030, a move that places the young canterano ahead of several established pillars in the club’s contract queue. The player from Vilassar de Mar, part of the famous 2007 generation alongside Lamine Yamal, Marc Bernal and Pau Cubarsí, signed his new deal on Thursday.
Deco has prioritized Espart’s extension over many first-team fixtures on the renewal list. That includes Raphinha, a great protegido of Deco and a weakness of Hansi Flick, who handed him the captaincy this summer. The young canterano was a priority because of his low contract. In the juvenil he earned around 70,000 euros annually. That was improved to about 150,000 in Barça B. Now he will take an important quality leap to the lower rung of the first team, with a salary close to 1.5 million euros gross. It is a status similar to that of Gerard Martín, another player who will be renewed very soon.
Espart has performed at an excellent level in the first stretch of the season. He has shown Flick that he can be counted on. He has done so in the position where, a priori, he was least expected: left back. Flick promoted him to the first team thinking of him as an alternative at right back, which would allow Koundé or Éric to spend more time at center back, or as an interior, given his experience in midfield positions in the youth categories. The reality has been different.
The young canterano has displayed an exquisite game as a left back. He is a totally different profile from Balde, more specialized in the up and down, with much longer runs and a more offensive vocation, or from Cancelo, who also has much more projection in attack. Espart is less physical, but he interprets the spaces to occupy very well and often acts as another midfielder to help Pedri, Rodri or Bernal. In defense, he knows how to hold his position, but that does not mean he fails to reach the box. The goal he scored against Levante, a match he finished exhausted, is good proof of that.
Hansi Flick had very clear reasons for letting Marc Casadó go. The player, and great barcelonista, from Sant Pere de Vilamajor did not enter the plans of the coach from Heidelberg. It was not for lack of involvement or motivation. Flick had priority options ahead of him, as was demonstrated last season. Some of those options, already known, were Marc Bernal, Frenkie de Jong or Gavi. But Rodri also arrived, and even more: the unexpected irruption of a canterano who has been a starter in five of the seven Liga matches played so far. He has only been left without playing in three of the last four matches: Feyenoord, Racing and Sevilla.
This is not about Alejandro Balde, also formed in the Masía and whose contract expires in 2028, but who is not counting for Hansi Flick at the start of the course. Nor are we referring to Marc Bernal or Pau Cubarsí, two pillars of the new Barça, also built in the club’s lower categories, and with contracts in force until 2029. The player who has passed ahead of all of them to forge his renewal is Xavi Espart.
Espart is the first of a long list of renewals that Deco will accelerate until January. The club’s will is not to rest on its laurels and to secure the future of the young promises with the most projection, as well as the consolidated pillars. Raphinha (2028) will be one of the next, but Gerard Martín (2028), Cubarsí (2029) and Bernal (2029) are also on Deco’s list of priorities. Basically, those who, like Espart, end their contracts in 2028. And those who end theirs in 2029. Balde (2028) is among them, but the doubts generated by his performance do not make him a priority.
The first of all to end his contract is Szczesny, but his continuity is not contemplated. He will finish the current season and leave football in 2027. Christensen and Brian Fariñas also end in 2028, two players who must earn it this season. The Dane is injured, but Flick trusts him. Fariñas is, at this moment, the last man in the first team and does not point to a change in his luck, despite his great friendship with Lamine Yamal. In 2029, in addition to Bernal and Cubarsí, Frenkie de Jong, Roony Bardghji, Joao Cancelo and Gabriel Jesús end their contracts. The four must earn it, though they do not point to renewal.
