Official: Barça transfers Mika Faye to Rennes

Relief for the FC Barcelona board. The Catalans have secured the transfer of Mika Faye to Rennes, which has been the team that was most interested in the Senegalese and both clubs reached a transfer agreement for 10.3 million euros and the Blaugrana entity reserved the right to buy him back for 25 million euros plus 30% of a future sale of the player.

The sporting management headed by Deco had been working for weeks on transferring the Senegalese. The player arrived in France on Friday and was not called up by Hansi Flick for Barcelona's match against Athletic, where the German team won 2-1 in the second matchday of LaLiga. The positive thing about the agreement is that they can bring him back in the future if they so wish.

Faye says goodbye to Barcelona

The defender arrived at the Catalan team last summer from NK Kustošija for 1.5 million euros and leaves for more than 10 million, which is a good deal for the Catalan club. Faye played 35 games with the reserve team managed by Rafa Márquez and scored four goals. He was also called up for the LaLiga matches with the first team against Mallorca, UD Las Palmas and Cádiz, but he did not make his debut under Xavi Hernández.

At Barça Atlétic he was a sensation with defensive actions that went viral on social media. The footballer stood out for his explosiveness on the field, speed and ability to recover balls. His good performances earned him the interest of teams such as Lille and PSV Eindhoven, but in the end it was Rennes who kept his services and managed to sign him for four seasons, until 2028.

Flick did not have him in his plans, so the team's financial situation caused his departure to be accelerated in order to make money. Faye played the preseason with the German coach, but had little role, preferring other reserve team centre-backs such as Sergi Domínguez, who had more minutes than the Senegalese in the run-up to the 2024/25 campaign. Now he will have the opportunity to be in a team where he will have minutes to exploit his maximum potential and, hopefully, convince Deco and Joan Laporta that he deserves to return in the future.