Despite having already agreed to a new contract with the Catalan giants, Barcelona president Joan Laporta called teenage star Dro Fernandez’s decision to leave the team for a planned move to Paris Saint-Germain “unpleasant.”
The 18-year-old central midfielder Dro is set to sign for French powerhouse PSG. According to Spanish media, the club will give Barca a little more than his six-million-euro ($7 million) release clause as a show of goodwill.
Laporta told Catalunya Radio late on Sunday, “It has been an unpleasant situation; we will speak when it’s all done.”
The Barca manager went on, “It came as a surprise because we had agreed on a different solution for when he turned 18.”
“His representative unexpectedly informed us that he was unable to carry out our agreement.”
Laporta seems to be alluding to getting up to 8.5 million euros for Dro from PSG instead of the amount specified in his release clause when he said that Barca would be able to “change the situation as it was presented” to them.
Dro, a native of Galicia in northwest Spain, enrolled in Barcelona’s La Masia youth academy in 2022, which is regarded as the best in the world. Since then, he has made eight appearances for the team.
Hansi Flick, the coach of Barcelona, expressed his dismay at Dro’s upcoming departure earlier in January.
The German coach, who gave Dro his debut in September 2025, stated, “I want to tell the young players from La Masia that we are Barca and one of the best teams in the world.”
“We provide them with the chance to train with us and develop daily with the world’s top players. We give them the chance, the encouragement, the faith, and the assurance.
“You should give it your all if you want to play for Barcelona. To everyone who is currently or will be with us in the future, I want to say that this needs to be 100%.
I want to see these colors; you have to live for them. This is what I can say about all the others I don’t want.
