Madrid-Barça war for the next crack of Spain

Fabio Blanco (Almería, 2004) has unleashed the umpteenth war between the great European clubs. The young right-handed winger from Valencia, only 17 years old, ends his contract in June this year and, as AS has learned, Real Madrid and Barcelona have already started talks to get him signed at the end of the season. In La Masia his great supporter is Mateu Alemany, the new football director, who knows him perfectly from his time in Valencia. Meanwhile, in Valdebebas they have been handling magnificent reports of his for a long time and he fits perfectly into the policy of not letting the most promising young people in the world escape.

In Valencia he is nicknamed the ‘new Ferran Torres’ due to his similarities with the current Manchester City player, while in the Spanish Federation (he is a regular in lower categories) they have been amazed at the concentrations he has attended. The technicians who have had him at their orders do not hesitate to affirm that if he maintains his progression, he will be the next star of Spanish football.

The Almeria is a first-year youth, but despite this he has become this year the great benchmark of the Youth Honor Division of Valencia. In other words, he is the best of his team despite being two years younger than almost all of his teammates, in a demonstration of his enormous potential.

Both Real Madrid and Barcelona intend to seize the opportunity for one of the most promising young men in Spain to go free. In both cases the idea would be to incorporate him directly to the subsidiary and even do the preseason this summer with the first team. In Valdebebas they are especially restless with this matter because they know the strong interest of Barcelona and they have very recent the case of Pedri, whom they had to test in February 2018, they discarded him and now he is triumphing in Barcelona and in the National Team.

In Valencia, meanwhile, they work against the clock to renew him but they are very pessimistic. They are aware that all the greats of Europe are following in their footsteps and right now Fabio has a huge range of possibilities on the table. At this point in the negotiation, they have lagged behind, Although the footballer is very grateful to the club that has trained him and is aware of the offer that they have made.

Foreign

Real Madrid and Barcelona must not only compete with each other, because almost all the greats of Europe have knocked on Fabio's door in recent months. They have, of course, an advantage: the English do not compete because they are 17 years old and with current legislation they must wait until they are of legal age. The City, United or Chelsea are very aware of him, but for another year they cannot enter the bidding.

Those who have done it with force are Milan, Juve and the leading clubs of the Bundesliga. In Germany they have become specialists in recent years when it comes to attracting young talents before the rest (Sancho, Haaland …), because players are attracted to having the possibility of entering the first teams from very early on.

Fabio, for his part, is still going to wait several weeks to make a decision. Those who know him within the Spanish Federation speak of him as a mature player, with a furnished head and that in a situation like the current one he will give priority only to his sporting projection.