Barcelona goalkeeper Inaki Pena has agreed to renew his contract with the club until 2026, reports Mundo Deportivo’s Fernando Polo. In fact, an official announcement could be made as early as today.
Pena is a product of the Barcelona youth academy and has been at the club for longer than a decade. After spending the second half of the last season on loan at Galatasaray, the 24-year-old made his first-team debut for the Catalans earlier this season.
While it was expected that Pena could get regular game-time in the Copa del Rey, it did not turn out to be the case as Xavi opted to take him out of the team after a couple of rounds, opting to go with Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
It led to doubts over Pena’s renewal as he had some concerns about his playing time. Ultimately, though, Barcelona have managed to convince the Spaniard to sign a new contract with the club.
The new deal is expected to keep the shot-stopper tied down at Spotify Camp Nou until 2026, and having agreed everything, the La Liga leaders hope to make an official announcement as early as today itself.
Following the renewal of Pena, the Blaugrana will move their focus to renewing two more academy products in the form of Alejandro Balde and Lamine Yamal. Talks with the teenage duo have been progressing very well and they are expected to ink new deals imminently as well.
Once the contract renewals are tied up, Barcelona will need to register them in the summer, and with La Liga seemingly giving the green light to their economic viability plan, the registration might not pose a problem.
