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Barcelona registered new summer signings Gabriel Jesus and Dominik Livakovic prior to the deadline on Tuesday, but they were not the only ones to be signed up with La Liga. The club also took the decision to give one of La Masia’s talents a permanent place in Hansi Flick’s squad for the 2026-27 season and beyond.
Back in July, Brian Farinas had been very close to leaving Barcelona to join Catalan rivals Girona, but in the end, a deal was cancelled after the young midfielder impressed Flick during pre-season. He’s remained in the first team fold for several weeks, and he will continue to do so going forward, with Sport reporting that he has now been registered as a first team player.
Farinas takes prominent Barcelona squad number
Furthermore, Barcelona have already announced that Farinas has taken the number 4 jersey, which was vacated by Ronald Araujo after his summer move to Liverpool. The decision underlines the faith that the club – and particularly Flick – have in the 20-year-old, who has benefitted from the likes of Marc Casado (RC Deportivo) and Tommy Marques (Braga) leaving during the summer.
However, it will still be difficult for Farinas to get regular minutes during the 2026-27 season, given that he has Pedri, Rodri, Marc Bernal, Frenkie de Jong and Gavi ahead of him in the pecking order. Nevertheless, he is something that could have a very big future at the Spotify Camp Nou, especially if he manages to learn a lot whilst training under these top-class players.
It will be interested to see just how involved Farinas is during the next few months in particular. He can drop down to Barca Atletic in order to play more minutes if necessary, although the decision to register him as a first team player makes it known that he is seen as capable of holding his own in the senior squad.