FC Barcelona has managed to make a new signing outside of the recently-closed transfer window as explained by SPORT, citing anonymous sources.
Hafiz Gariba is described as a “a promising centre back who will join the club with immediate effect” after he signed a three-year contract upon turning 18.
The signing was expected to happen for a while, but Barca had to wait until the Ghanaian became of adult age to receive his ‘OK’.
It was at the Marcet School just north of Barcelona city center that Gariba caught Barca’s attention and that of other big clubs in Spain.
Gariba is said to have received “many important proposals in recent months”, but it has always been his dream to sign for Barca which has now been realized.
He won’t be expected to head straight to the Barca Atletic reserve outfit or Hansi Flick’s firs team, however, with the club’s formative department in La Masia instead finding Gariba best suited to the Juvenil B U-18 side while he finds his feet.
If he progresses as expected, though, the club remains convinced that he can quickly jump to Juliano Belletti’s Juvenil A team before making possibly making the reserves if he continues evolving positively.
As a centre back, Gariba is deemed to stand out for his strength, with an imposing physique allowing him to stamp out potential trouble before it has occurred or when running backwards.
His capture represents the continuation of a fairly recently-adopted transfer strategy from Barca, which sees it picking up talent from Africa before it has already made it to the big European leagues and clubs therefore costing a premium down the road.
Even if Gariba doesn’t end up taking the step to becoming a regular in Flick’s squads, Barca has shown that it knows how to spin a profit on youngsters such as Mika Faye, who was bought for a few million dollars yet sold on to Rennes for $10.8 million last summer.
At the turn of 2025, Barca also acquired two promising Malian players who are namely Ibrahim Diarra and Arouna Traore.
The pair were signed from Acadamie Africa Foot in their homeland, but have since landed in Catalonia hoping to become established in the elite.
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