Riqui Puig, heading to Los Angeles Galaxy

• In the absence of official confirmation, the Barça youth squad will play three seasons with the Californian team
• As KOURAGOAL advanced, the American option has been working for days and the announcement is a matter of hours

It is a question of fringes. Riqui Puig’s departure to the Los Angeles Galaxy is practically done, as KOURAGOAL has been publishing since last Saturday. The American team has convinced the Barça squad, who has already accepted the proposal for a project that will make him the franchise player for the Los Angeles team for the next three years. In the absence of Barcelona giving the definitive OK this Tuesday, the idea is that the player goes free and Barça keeps a percentage of a future sale. The signing of the 22-year-old midfielder by the Galaxy must be announced between today and tomorrow depending on the time change. 

This newspaper already reported this Monday that Riqui‘s departure to the United States was a matter of hours and that everything was gaining strength against the clock to be able to be registered in the MLS before August 4, when the deadline closes. Barça and Galaxy have continued negotiating until yesterday to finish defining the last details of the agreement and it should be made official soon.

Riqui Puig arrived in Barcelona in 2014 to join the Barça cadet and train in the culé youth academy. In Juvenil, he entered as a resident in La Masia to dedicate himself professionally to football. He managed to reach the subsidiary after being one of the best of the generation of 99, which in 2018 was proclaimed champion of the UEFA Youth League. The following season he went to the subsidiary and made his debut with the first team, where he definitively agreed to the 2019-20 season. 

Once up there, he couldn’t have continuity and Xavi told him at the end of last season that he didn’t have him. Now Riqui Puig, a U21 international, will continue his journey in the MLS. Chicharito Hernández, Douglas Costa, Kevin Cabral or the culé Víctor Vázquez await him in the Los Angeles team.