Barcelona defender not training with first team as exit gathers pace – report

Only earlier today, we reported that Barcelona manager Hansi Flick had approved the sale of defender Mikayil Faye after having not been convinced by the youngster during pre-season.

The 20-year-old centre-half enjoyed a solid debut season with Barça Atletic in 2023/24 and has been pushing for a spot in the first-team setup.

But it appears that he has not done enough to convince the manager in pre-season, although a minor injury did not really allow him to feature very regularly.

Irrespective of that, Flick has not seen enough to be convinced by the young defender and has given the green light for his exit.

Faye not training with first team

In fact, according to SPORT, Faye is no longer training with the Barcelona senior team with his exit seemingly gathering pace.

FC Porto have long been interested in the Senegalese international, but talks with them stalled a few weeks back.

More recently, clubs like Rennes and Besiktas have come forward with offers to sign the Barcelona youngster in permanent deals.

At the same time, the 20-year-old also has several loan offers, although it is likely that the Blaugrana would prefer a permanent sale with some degree of control over his future with a potential sell-on clause or buyback option.

Rennes had been putting pressure on Faye to choose them in recent hours and the youngster might end up opting for the Ligue 1 side as the move would come with a regular starting berth.

There are other clubs interested as well and Barcelona, for their part, will let the defender make the decision on his next destination.

But all signs point towards Faye’s exit, that too, imminently.