FLORENCE, ITALY - JANUARY 18: Lorenzo Anghele' of Italy U18 battles for the ball with Alvaro Cortes of Spain U18 at Centro Tecnico Federale di Coverciano on January 18, 2023 in Florence, Italy. (Photo by Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images)
**HLN**are reporting that Antwerp are close to signing Barcelona defender Álvaro Cortés. The 21-year-old will join permanently, although Barcelona will include a buy back clause as part of the deal. Antwerp have been looking for more defensive reinforcements this summer and appear to have secured a player in Cortés that Barcelona still think can be good enough to play for them in the future. Cortés leaves Barcelona for a young Antwerp squad where he will actually be older than a number of the starters.
Cortés leaves Barcelona having made one appearance for the first team, which came in La Liga during the 2025/2026 season. The past two seasons he has been a regular for the Barcelona second team, playing 57 games and scoring three goals. He joins an Antwerp side that, although took a long time to hire a new head coach in Marvin Compper, have had a fantastic start to the Belgian Pro League season. The young side have won two and drawn one of their three games in the league so far, with Sint Truiden to come on Sunday.