Spanish football champions Barcelona are seeking to settle a deal to
sign Danish international striker Martin Braithwaite from Leganes
by any means, according to media reports on Wednesday.
The American network “ESPN” indicated that the Catalan club
obtained special permission to join Braithwaite (28 years) outside
the official contract period, and he will pay the penalty clause of his
contract, which amounts to 18 million euros.
Leganes did not seem willing to negotiate with Barcelona, after he
abandoned his other Moroccan striker, Youssef Naciri, to Seville
early in the season.
The network added that the player will be able to participate with
Barcelona in the Ibar match next Saturday in the Spanish league,
where he is one point behind his rivals Real Madrid. The Spanish
newspaper “Sport” indicated that Braithwaite trained Wednesday
with Leganes in light of Barcelona’s attempts to annex him.
And she added that Barcelona obtained special permission after a
long injury until the end of the season of French striker Osman
Dembele, and he also recently missed his Uruguayan striker Luis
Suarez.
The Barcelona attack includes the best player in the world six times
Argentine Lionel Messi, Frenchman Antoine Griezmann and
teenager Enso Fati from Guinea-Bissau.
The Laws of the League refer to allowing the club to replace the
injured player if his injury period exceeds five months, with another
player from the Spanish League or without a professional contract.
Braithwaite joined Leganes in 2019 on loan from Middlesbrough
before moving permanently at 5 million euros, and this season he
scored 6 goals in the league. He scored 13 goals in 41 games with his
current team and carried the colors of Denmark in 39 international
matches in which he scored 7 goals.
