Barcelona star agrees contract extension till 2026 with €1 billion release clause - Reports

Barcelona have reached an agreement with star midfielder Pedri over a new long-term contract, according to Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano.

Pedri is set to sign a five-year contract which will have a massive release clause of €1 billion.

Barcelona see Pedri as one of their most important players going forward. This is why the Catalan giants have inserted a release clause which realistically cannot be activated by any club in world football.

Barcelona signed Pedri from fellow La Liga side Las Palmas for an initial fee of €5 million with various add-ons.

The 18-year-old midfielder is widely regarded as one of the best young talents in Spain. Despite his tender age, Pedri played a big role in his first season for Barcelona, making 52 appearances across all competitions and scoring four goals along the way.

Pedri was named in Spain's squad for Euro 2020, where they lost in the semifinals to eventual champions Italy. He played all of Spain's six games and was named the Young Player of the Tournament.

Following the European Championships, the 18-year-old midfielder was also part of Spain's Olympic squad which won the silver medal in Tokyo.

---

Barcelona building their team around talented youngsters

Barcelona are in a rebuilding phase after their financial woes resulted in the likes of Antoine Griezmann and Lionel Messi leaving the club in the summer transfer window. Messi joined PSG on a free transfer, while Griezmann returned to Atletico Madrid on an initial loan deal with an obligation to buy.

Nevertheless, the Catalan giants have some extremely talented youngsters around whom the squad can be built. Barcelona's talented group of youngsters include the likes of Pedri, Ansu Fati, Gavi, Ronald Araujo and Nico Gonzalez.

But despite possessing some of the best young players in the world, Barcelona have struggled on the pitch. The Catalan giants currently find themselves ninth in La Liga, five points behind leaders Real Madrid with a game in hand.

Their form has been even worse in the Champions League, where they lost their opening two games 3-0, to Bayern Munich and then Benfica.

Due to their poor start to the new season, Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman has come in for heavy criticism. A section of Barcelona fans believe the former Everton and Southampton manager is not the ideal person to lead Barcelona and its bunch of young stars in the future.

Koeman will hope to turn Barcelona's fortunes around when they host Valencia and Real Madrid in their next two league fixtures.