Fabio Blanco, the pearl of Barça that Eintracht let escape

The paths of Fabio Blanco (Almería, 2004) and Barcelona were destined to cross at some point. The Barça club has always been interested in the young winger of the U-18 since he was one of the most promising children in Spain, when he played in the lower categories of Almería back in 2016. Alexanco, director of youth football at Barça, took him away from his current club when he was running the Valencia Academy at the time. Since then, his progression has been in crescendo on the Levantine coast and several great Europeans such as Real Madrid and Juventus, began to track him down.

Last summer these big clubs tried to sign Fabio. Mateu Alemany, who knew him from his time in Valencia, along with Alexanco, bet heavily on him to take him to La Masía. Real Sociedad also came to offer him a position at Sanse, in the Second Divisionwhile still a youth. But finally, and against all odds, Blanco decided to pack his bags and go to Frankfurt to play for Eintracht. The German club offered him a place in the first team at the age of 17 in a Europa League team that aspired to take a step further in the Bundesliga. Ben Manga, head of scouting for Eintracht and right-hand man of Fredi Bobic, sports director, was the man who bet the most on the young Andalusian player.

Eintracht beat Barça, Real Madrid and Juventus and Fabio began what was going to be a promising career at a club that is committed to youth and in which Spaniards like Omar Mascarell and Vallejo triumphed. However, some changes in the organizational chart of the German club triggered a series of circumstances that blocked Fabio’s aspirations. Fredi Bobic left for Hertha Berlin and Ben Manga went on to occupy another role further away from the daily work of the team. It was then that Fabio stopped entering the dynamics of the first team and entering the routine of the Eintracht subsidiarya role that is not the one he had been promised.

Alemany and Alexanco, again on the attack, found out about Fabio’s situation and did not hesitate to try to sign him again. This time yes Fabio accepted the offer, financially inferior to that of Eintracht but sportingly more seductive, and only six months after packing his bags for Germany, Barça brought Blanco back to Spain and put him fully into Barça Bdespite being a youth.

Things at Barça B are not going bad at all. Fabio is the undisputed starter for Sergi Barjuán and has completed a last month of scandal, scoring 3 goals in the last three games of the Barça subsidiary. Fabio finally arrived at the station he wanted, although the trip was a little longer than expected.