Jan Virgili has emerged as a bright young winger for Mallorca after leaving Barcelona last summer, and he has made clear that a return to his boyhood club would be difficult to turn down.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Deco called, it would be hard saying no,\u201d Virgili said when asked how he would respond to Bar\u00e7a\u2019s sporting director. He added that wearing the Blaugrana shirt remains a long-term ambition. \u201cYes, of course,\u201d Virgili said. \u201cThat was my dream and is my dream and I think it will always be my dream. I\u2019ve been a Bar\u00e7a fan all my life and in the end, if one day the opportunity arrives, that Bar\u00e7a\u2019s doors open up to me again, in the first team, I\u2019d be delighted obviously.\u201d<\/p>\n
Virgili spent a year at La Masia and was part of the U-19 side that completed a treble, winning La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Youth League. His performances carried him into regular appearances for Bar\u00e7a Atl\u00e8tic in the opening months of 2025, but the B side\u2019s relegation changed his prospects.<\/p>\n
He trained with the first team under Hansi Flick at the start of preseason and had hoped to be included on the Asian tour. \u201cWhen I started the preseason with the first team, I had the hope of going on the [Asian] tour,\u201d he said. \u201cAt least to try to impress or having the chance to play with the first team, but it wasn\u2019t to be.\u201d With Mallorca\u2019s offer arriving in the summer, Virgili opted for a new path. \u201cThese are things that happen and in the end, Mallorca\u2019s offer arrived and I gambled for a change of path.<\/p>\n
\u201cBar\u00e7a Atl\u00e8tic got relegated and, even if being at Bar\u00e7a is a privilege, I think staying at [Bar\u00e7a B], more so at a lower division, Mallorca was a train I couldn\u2019t let pass by. I always say you have to search for the path you want and if it\u2019s outside of where you want it to be, you must follow the chosen path.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mallorca signed Virgili for $4 million (\u20ac3.5 million) last summer, with Barcelona retaining 50% of his rights and a right to match any future offer. The retained interest and matching right provide a clear mechanism that could facilitate a future return.<\/p>\n
Separately, Barcelona and Marcus Rashford reportedly share a mutual desire to extend his loan beyond the initial year, but Manchester United are insisting on Barcelona triggering the $35 million (\u00a326 million) buy-option. Joan Laporta has suggested an alternative is unlikely this summer, complicating any deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jan Virgili says he would struggle to refuse Barcelona if the club reopened the door to him. indeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9705,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1017,1163],"tags":[1446,1078],"class_list":["post-9706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-barcelona","category-transfers","tag-academy","tag-buy-back-clause"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}