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Barcelona winger Alex Collado is reportedly close to joining Real Betis.
According to transfer news expert Fabrizio Romano, Betis are currently working on the documents needed to sign Collado. The deal will see the Blaugrana receive 20% if the Balompie choose to sell the 24-year-old in the future.
Romano provided the update via his Twitter account on Monday, July 10, writing:
"Barcelona will get 20% of future sale for Alex Collado. Real Betis hope to get all documents signed in the next days, it’s all agreed with both player and club. Matter of time then done deal."
Collado's current deal with the Catalans was set to expire next summer. However, Mundo Deportivo's Ferran Martinez has reported that he will forego a chunk of the salary he deferred during COVID-19 and leave on a free transfer to Betis.
It's worth noting that there have been some confusions over the percentage of Collado's future sale Barcelona will receive. While Romano's latest post suggests the figure is 20%, he had referenced Martinez's report of a 30% future sale clause just hours before in another Twitter post.
Collado will notably join multiple former Barcelona players at Real Betis, including Claudio Bravo, Juan Miranda and Martin Montoya.
Alex Collado simply couldn't break into Barcelona's senior team inspite of his talent
Just a few years back, Alex Collado was widely touted to be the next big thing to come out of La Masia. Unfortunately, the Spaniard could never break into Barcelona's senior team.
Initially, this was because the club already had Lionel Messi, Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho to deploy on the wings. Dembele is still at the club, while the arrivals of Ferran Torres and Raphinha as well as Ansu Fati's rise to fame means they have plenty of options out wide.
This left Collado out in the cold. The winger joined the Blaugrana's youth set-up in 2010 and rose through the age groups before joining their B team in 2018. He recorded 18 goals and 11 assists in 83 matches for them (via Transfermarkt), while winning the UEFA Youth League title as well.
The midfielder made his debut for the senior team in a 2-0 La Liga loss to Celta Vigo in May 2019. His second and final appearance for the club came the following season in another 2-0 league loss to Valencia in January 2020.
After spending the 2020-21 season with Barca Atletic again, Collado was loaned out to Granada midway through the 2021-22 season. He featured in 17 La Liga games for the team, recording two goals and an assist in 1023 minutes of action.
Last season, Barcelona loaned him out once again, this time to Elche. Collado scored in his first league start for the team, a 1-1 draw with UD Almeria, but could not find the back of the net after that. An abductor muscle tear then ruled him out from the start of January until midway through March.
He featured in just six of Elche's final 12 La Liga matches, with the club eventually finishing bottom of the standings to suffer relegation.
