Bad news for Barça: Mingueza stays, for now, at Celta

Óscar Mingueza will not leave Celta de Vigo in the winter market. At least not until another offer arrives at the Balaídos offices. On Friday, Aston Villa, which had been close to signing the former FC Barcelona defender, opted for Andrés García, a full-back from Levante, who so far in the 2024-25 season has scored 3 goals and provided 3 assists in 23 matches (1,962 minutes) with Julián Calero's team.

According to reports from 'Sin Tregua Radio' and 'Deportes COPE Valencia', Levante and the Birmingham team reached an agreement for the transfer of the 21-year-old defender, who will join Unai Emery's team next week for a fee of 7 million euros net plus an additional 2.5 million in variables. Additionally, the 'granotas' retain 15% of any future sale, thus rejecting the initial offer from Sporting CP, which was also very interested in the Spanish player. 

Barcelona misses out on 10 million euros in the winter market

The failure of negotiations for Mingueza represents terrible news for Barça, as the operation could have left 10 million euros net in the club's coffers. Celta expected to close the transfer of the '3' for 20 million euros. Half of that was for Barcelona, as the Catalans retained 50% of the player's sporting rights after his departure for 'free' in 2022. 

Óscar was a starter on Thursday in Celta's visit to Real Madrid (5-2), playing the full 120 minutes in the incredible robbery by the 'merengue' team to advance to the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey. The player from Santa Perpetua de Mogoda has accumulated 1,623 minutes of action spread over 20 appearances in which he has scored 2 goals, along with 5 assists. For now, the full-back will continue to be indispensable in the Galician team, with which he has a contract until 2026.