Given the lack of business in the senior side, the relatively busy January transfer market from Director of Football Deco in the youth ranks has caught the eye. Deco has made it a priority to continue recruiting talented youngsters in their teenage years to strengthen Barca Atletic.

Included in that signing spree are Dutch defender Juwensley Onstein, Patricio Pacifico and Hamza Abdelkarim, who arrived from Belgium, Uruguay and Egypt respectively. However they did not manage to get deals over the line for all of their targets, although Sport say they are in advanced talks still for Jesse Bisiwu at Club Brugge.

Barcelona to miss out on Nijstad signing

Onstein could well have been playing alongside one of his youth international teammates for the Netherlands at Barca Atletic, but the Catalan daily note that Barcelona will miss out on Ruud Nijstad. The information comes from the WFC Groningen insider account, who say that he will remain at FC Twente for the time being. Nijstad is set to sign a new deal in Enschede, and commit his future there.

Barcelona had been in negotiations with Twente, but their move was described as ambitious. Nijstad no doubt weighed up the apparent promise of first-team football in the Eredivisie, having already made 12 first-team appearances for Twente this season.

🚨 AC Milan are interested in Gerard Martín ahead of next season. Even though FC Barcelona greatly value the player, the club’s current finances cannot allow to say 'no' to an offer around €30m. [@TouchlineX] 🇪🇸

— barcacentre (@barcacentre) February 12, 2026

Barcelona’s recruitment strategy in the youth ranks

While of course Barcelona are looking for prospects that can make it into the first-team, it seems Deco is very much keen on signing players that can be sold on at a profit too. That was the case with Mikayil Faye, Julian Araujo and Ez Abde. Currently in their senior squad, the only young players signed that were already at a professional age are Gerard Martin, who was signed from Cornella, and Roony Bardghji, who had already played Champions League football for FC Copenhagen.