Konrad De La Fuente has officially made his move to Ligue 1 side Marseille.
The French club announced Tuesday that De La Fuente has joined the club on a four-year deal from Barcelona. Barcelona will receive roughly $4.17 million (€3.5 million) for De La Fuente and 50% of his player rights going into the future, according to Mundo Deportivo.
The Florida native will join international teammate Tim Weah in Ligue 1 next season, and could get a crack at European action with Marseille set to take part in the UEFA Europa League group stage.
De La Fuente made three cameos off the bench for Ronald Koeman’s side this past season, appearing in the UEFA Champions League twice along with an appearance in the Copa Del Rey competition.
The 19-year-old registered six goals and four assists in 20 combined appearances for Barcelona’s B team, but looked set to depart Barcelona whether it be on loan or a permanent transfer. De La Fuente made his senior debut with the U.S. Men’s National Team in November 2020 and is also eligible for the Under-23 team going forward.
Marseille is under new guidance as Jorge Sampaoli took over in February for the sacked Andre Villas-Boas. The club is set to begin its new Ligue 1 season between August 7-8 before involvement in the Coupe De France and Europa League later in the Fall.
Nice calculated move for him. He’ll be at a top half table club in a top 5 league. He’s 19 with a lot of upside. Great opportunity for him to fight for some steady minutes. Marseille have quite the history of nurturing / developing young talent that move on to huge clubs.
No, Marseille calculated move for him.
Agreed he’s a quality player
I see what you did there
i appreciate the ambition but when one is coming off being unable to dress for the 3rd best team in spain is signing at the 5th best team in france all that wise? kind of like weah, who basically swapped out ligue unnnnnnnnnh leaders and mostly comes off the bench.
re “european action” that’s usually what the B teamers get is the cup games — steffen, horvath — and the theories on its value tend to confuse cause and effect. playing in UCL etc doesn’t make you good but rather recognizes that teams who make those levels generally go out and buy players who are already good.
Barca may have ended up as the 3rd best team in Spain but they have top and expensive players that underperformed. I don’t see that been the case in Marseille. He is going to get a chance to play.
Marseille is a very good club- it’s a steep hill, but it’s not Real Madrid, MC or Bayern. Seems wise and a pretty good opportunity to me. Are there risks to ambitious moves at the top of the game? Absolutely. Having to scrap at that level is precisely what brings out the best from top level talent and hones perseverance and toughness. This kid has top level talent. Not being able to break into the starting line-up at Barcelona as a teenager does not mean one should go to…. the Danish league. One can only opt for the opportunities that come- you can’t hand pick the perfect place at the perfect time with all the upsides and no risks- that does not exist. These opportunities only come around so many times and is a challenge this player has the talent to meet. We shall see how it goes but…. Super Stoked for Konrad.
I tend to agree that top teams buy talent and use it on the first team. OTOH, there is something to be said for getting on the practice field with better players. So it ends up being a tension between on one hand getting frequent training sessions involved with the real stars of the soccer world and the opportunity to play in matches that matter for a lesser team, mostly against lesser competition. I don’t think there is any one size fits all answer. It probably takes a crystal ball to know if a particular player would be better served by playing most first team games for a lower level team or getting relatively few games bput training with one of the top level clubs. I think the best advice is to get on the best team that will have you as their 11th player, but that can be a hard needle to thread.
There are all kinds of examples of players not hacking it at one club then moving to another club in another league and doing well. Look at Gnabry who Arsenal deemed not good enough and he ended up playing consistently for Bayern. Marseille is a good club, but not Barcelona, PSG or even Lille right now. This should be a good move and it will be up to him to earn his way onto the squad.
my deal is there are people who were cut for the U20s who are cutting ahead of him in line and it basically boils down to a club form coach seeing a player on the B team. ask yourself why aaronson weah konrad stack up in that order now. it’s now how the U20 coach saw them. it’s how their careers are playing out so far. to be fair, barca b might be as good as the union or RBS. but this is not a coach who recognizes that.
i also think y’all need to consider a “lock” vs a “chance.” if he makes one level move he is a lock to play. if he makes another level move he has a chance, and may get loaned. given he’s transferring he could probably dictate his way closer to a sure thing and start guaranteed making his NT case this cycle. this move is more of a risk for this cycle and positions him more for maybe being involved 2026 cycle.
Because Gregg loves players killing it in the Scandinavian leagues… checks call ups in last 9 months… err maybe not. Players develop at different speeds it is not one size fits all. Konrad was the 2nd youngest player on that U20 roster. Another possibility is that Tab got it wrong. There are several players that made the roster that are still in USL or hardly play in MLS.
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Looking briefly at Marseille’s roster he’s going to be a bench player and that’s not necessarily bad. He doesn’t need 2000 minutes, but does need 10-15 minutes each week with 60-75 a couple times a month. Weah played in about 75% of Lille’s games (most of the 25% missed around injuries) did his form drop, no. Did he improve his game? Yes! Was he the first player trusted off the bench in the NL? Yes, he was.
This looks like a proper move and great starting place to earn first team minutes. His speed and guile on the ball should be on full display in this league.