While Barcelona will lose Ousmane Dembele join PSG imminently, they also had to witness one of their most talented young academy products, Arnau Tenas, move to the French capital on a free transfer less than a week ago.
Indeed, Barça let Tenas’ contract expire on June 30 and tried to negotiate a new deal with him, but the 22-year-old opted to sign for PSG as a free agent only a couple of days back.
Now, Mundo Deportivo has come out with a report shedding light on the reason why Tenas decided to snub Barcelona’s renewal offer and leave for Paris.
Barcelona opted against activating two-year renewal
Tenas has been regarded as one of the most talented young goalkeepers in Spain, something he proved during the U-21 European Championships earlier this summer.
Barça have always rated the La Masia product highly and could have easily sealed his continuity by triggering a two-year extension in his old contract.
However, the La Liga champions decided against it as they felt the new wages he would earn were not a good fit for the club’s new salary scale and instead, they opted to hold talks over a fresh contract altogether.
Tenas didn’t wish to continue as third-choice goalkeeper
And, as per Mundo Deportivo, while talks were held with Tenas over a new deal, it was made clear to him that he would continue to remain the third-choice goalkeeper with the Barcelona first team, behind Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Inaki Pena.
However, the 22-year-old did not wish to remain as the third-choice custodian, and amidst this Luis Enrique made a play to take him to PSG.
The former Barça and Spain boss wanted the La Masia graduate in France having seen his performances in youth football at the international level.
As such, Tenas opted to join the Ligue 1 champions for free, instead of continuing at Barcelona as the third choice.
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