Barcelona agree new contract until 2028 with 17-year-old La Masia talent

Barcelona have reached an agreement to renew the contract of teenage goalkeeper Diego Kochen, reports Toni Juanmarti of SPORT.

Kochen, 17, has been a part of Barcelona’s La Masia system since 2019, a year after arriving in Spain from the United States of America.

Great hopes on Kochen

Since his arrival, the teenage shot-stopper has shown great projection and has continued to grow at a rapid rate, impressing the club officials a great deal.

Barcelona are very happy with Kochen’s performance and the truth is that they have high hopes for the goalkeeper, who they see as having the potential to make the step up to the first team in the medium term.

Kochen has been a regular in the first-team squad of late owing to the injury to Marc-Andre ter Stegen. The teenager serves as the third-choice stopper behind Inaki Pena and Ander Astralaga.

Kochen even made his unofficial first-team debut for Barcelona in the friendly against Club America in Dallas, becoming the youngest goalkeeper to make his debut for Barça.

New contract until 2028

Kochen has agreed a new contract at Barça. (Photo by PAU BARRENA/AFP via Getty Images)

Kochen’s contract with Barcelona was due to expire on 30 June 2025. However, the club wanted to get ahead of the game and tie him down to a long-term deal.

Given that the goalkeeper will turn 18 years old on March 19, he will be able to sign a contract longer than three years.

And, as such, the new contract Kochen has agreed upon will run until the summer of 2028. The new deal will come into force when he reaches 18 years of age next month.

The plans with the La Masia talent are to take over the goalkeeping duties in the reserve team sooner rather than later, without losing sight of the first team in the medium term.