Barcelona sign Martin Braithwaite from Leganes
Written by News on 20/02/2020
Barcelona have announced the emergency signing of former Middlesbrough forward Martin Braithwaite until June 2024.
The La Liga champions paid the £15m buyout clause for the Denmark international, who scored eight goals in 20 matches for Leganes this season.
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Barcelona were given special permission to make an emergency signing outside of the transfer window after French forward Ousmane Dembele was ruled out for six months with a serious hamstring injury.
The buy out clause for the 28-year-old has been set at £250m.
Leganes director general, Martin Ortega, said: “We will raise our voice. We are in a situation of enormous and serious damage.
“We cannot understand the current regulation that a club, having a long-term injury, can perform this operation unilaterally and transfer their problem to our club.”
Braithwaite will only be eligible to play in La Liga for the remainder of the season, with Barcelona having already submitted their squad for the knockout phase of the Champions League.
He endured a difficult two-year spell at Middlesbrough from 2017-19, scoring only nine goals in 36 Championship appearances.
Leganes sit 19th in La Liga, two points adrift of safety, with 14 games left in the league season.
Why Braithwaite, why now for Barcelona?
Martin Braithwaite’s move to Barcelona is an unlikely turn of events that is set to leave an unsatisfactory taste in Spain, according to Alvaro Montero.
Quique Setien has been placed in a tricky position barely one month into his reign at the Nou Camp. The Barca head coach is having to contend with an injury crisis at the sharp end of the pitch with Luis Suarez and Ousmane Dembele both likely to miss the rest of the season.
Having ended their interest in Real Sociedad’s Willian Jose and Getafe striker Angel Rodriguez, they have now activated the 18m euros release clause for Leganes forward Braithwaite.
(c) Sky Sports 2020: Barcelona sign Martin Braithwaite from Leganes
