Over the last 6-12 months, Barcelona have started putting more focus on signing highly-rated young players for their La Masia academy. They brought in the likes of Hamza Abdelkarim and Juwensley Onstein during the winter transfer window, and there are plans for further additions over the course of the summer.
One of the players that sporting director Deco has had his eye on his Ruud Nijstad. He tried to sign the FC Twente defender in January, but a deal could not be agreed – and since then, the 18-year-old’s stock has risen by a large amount, given that he was a regular starter in the Eredivisie for the second half of the 2025-26 season.
Nevertheless, Barcelona still retained hope of agreeing a favourable deal to sign the talented youngster, but these have now been dashed. As reported by Fabrizio Romano, Twente have managed to agree a new contract with Nijstad, who will remain on their books for at least another three seasons.
Barcelona already considering alternative targets
Image via Luiza Moraes/Getty Images
Losing out on Nijstad is a blow for Barcelona, but they won’t lose much sleep over it. In fact, Deco and his team have already started losing into alternatives, with one of those being Australian World Cup star Lucas Herrington, for whom they submitted an opening offer earlier in the week.
It does make a lot of sense for Barcelona to target these younger players when their value is at its lowest. They are still working their way out of the financial predicament that has plagued them for the best part of 10 years, so buying low and developing stars to become first team starters is something that will help their situation.
For now, it remains to be seen which players Barcelona are able to sign during the summer transfer window, but it does appear that one of them won’t be Nijstad.