Barcelona beat Chelsea to the services of talented African centre-back

Spanish champions Barcelona have won the race for the signature of Senegalese wonderkid Mikayil Faye.

Italian transfer market expert Fabrizio Romano has reported that Barcelona are set to sign talented centre-back Faye from Croatian outfit NK Kustošija Zagreb. 

Romano is certain that it's a done deal and added that the 2004-born defender was courted by two top clubs, Chelsea and Borussia Dortmund. 

Seen as a future top player, Faye will cost a transfer fee of five million euros plus performance-related add-ons. 

The 18-year-old represented Senegal at the 2019 Africa U17 Cup of Nations before putting himself at the shop window during the World Cup in Brazil that same year. 

Barcelona have recruited three  young Senegalese defenders in recent years, bringing in Moussa Wagué, Moussa Ndiaye and Alpha Diounkou in 2018, 2020 and 2022 respectively. 

Faye made fourteen appearances for NK Kustošija Zagreb in 2022-2023, scoring one goal and was in action for 1.139 minutes. 

Igho Kingsley