In the past few years and months, FC Barcelona has paid more attention to players from Africa. Mikayil Faye, the center-back they got from NK Kustosija last year and then sold to Rennes in the summer transfer window, was the most important investment the Catalans made in this area.

Together with him, Mamadou Mbacke has also played for Barcelona Athletic, and they have recently agreed to sign David Oduro and Abdul Aziz.

Ibrahim Diarra is another young African player on his way to joining Barcelona. He will be able to wear the Blaugrana shirt next January, when the winter transfer window starts, and will be an adult.

SPORT says that Barcelona doesn’t want to waste any time when it comes to bringing him in and already has a plan with two goals in mind. The first thing the Catalans want to do is speed up the paperwork the player needs to submit in order to play in Spain. Second, he needs to be added to the Barcelona Athletic team as soon as possible.

Barcelona has high hopes for the Malian winger, which is clear from the fact that they paid €1.7 million for him. Of that amount, €190,000 went to Africa Foot and €1.5 million went to the player himself.

The player needs to get a visa first before he can go to Spain. It was supposed to have arrived by now, and while it hasn’t yet, it’s likely to arrive soon. He can start working with his new team as soon as he gets the visa. Barcelona is already moving quickly to get him ready to apply for other passes when he turns 18 on December 12th.

However, the Catalans will have to make room for him on the Barcelona Athletic team. The B team already has 25 players, so at least one player will have to leave in order for Diarra to join.