Barcelona have confirmed that Estanis Pedrola will move to Sampdoria on loan.
The 19-year-old winger was in impressive form last season for Barcelona Atletic, scoring 8 times in 21 matches for Rafa Marquez, and has already made his first-team debut under Xavi Hernandez.
With plenty of competition for places though, Barcelona have agreed to send him on loan to Sampdoria for this season in Serie B. They have conditioned buy option of €3m, Barcelona will have a buyback option of €7m and they will retain a 50% sell-on fee too.
While this is not confirmed, it is suspected that that buy option for Sampdoria may depend on whether they are promoted back to Serie A this season, as is their aim. Originally this move had first been reported as a sale some weeks ago, but it appears Sampdoria will have an extra safety net with the loan.
Tall and rangy, Pedrola has plenty of pace to burn, and has so far made his living of beating defenders and finishing at the end of his runs.
I really liked his game last season and was hoping Xavi gave him some play time. I don’t remember him being subbed in by Xavi. All I remember is 3 games where he was left on the bench.