Barcelona Inform La Liga of Martin Braithwaite Payment Ahead of Official Announcement

?Barcelona have informed La Liga of their intention to pay the €18m buyout clause in Martin Braithwaite’s contract to sign the Leganes striker.

La Blaugrana had attempted to negotiate a lower fee for Braithwaite earlier, but their efforts have seemingly failed and instead they will pay the full amount on Thursday ahead of an official announcement.

The left-field move for Braithwaite comes after The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) granted Barça special dispensation to sign another forward outside of the January transfer window due to injury problems. A specialist team flew to Finland to confirm the length of forward Ousmane Dembélé’s injury and, having confirmed it to be longer than five months, Barça were granted time to make a signing.

As revealed by ?Mundo Deportivo, a much-mooted move for Braithwaite is all-but complete, with Quique Setién’s side informing ?La Liga that they will paid the contractual buyout clause required to secure the Dane’s signature.

Ángel (Getafe), Lucas Pérez (Alavés), Roger Martí (Levante) and Loren Morón (Real Betis) were all considered by the club, but they have opted to go for 28-year-old Braithwaite who has netted six league goals for struggling Leganes this season. 

The club’s new addition could be presented to the media on Thursday and will already be available to Setién for Saturday’s La Liga clash against Eibar at Camp Nou.

The move is certainly a peculiar one, given the Denmark striker’s career path, but one that is reminiscent of last year’s deal for Kevin-Prince Boateng. Signed on a loan deal from Sassuolo in a bid to boost forward options, the Ghanaian struggled for any impact and subsequently moved on to Fiorentina.

The move for Braithwaite has been met with criticism from some quarters with Leganes unable to sign a replacement for their star man, amid a relegation dog fight.

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