Rei Manaj joins Barça B

FC Barcelona and Albacete have reached an agreement for the 22 year old Albanian striker Rei Manaj with the player signing a contract until 30 June 2023. Manaj's buy out clause is set at 50 million euros after passing a medical last Friday and signing his new contract on Monday in the Estadi Johan Cruyff in the presence of the Board Member responsible for Barça B, Silvio Elías and the technical director of Barça B, Jose Mari Bakero. The transfer fee agreed with Albacete is 700,000 euros with 2 million euros in add-ons dependent on the player's performance over the three and a half years of his contract. The player will wear the number 22. 

Rei Manaj was born in Lushnjë, Albania on 24 February 1997. The striker played in the youth teams at Serie A club Sampdoria before joining Serie C side Cremonese in the summer of 2014. A year later he signed for Internazionale and made nine appearances for the Milan club before going on loan first to Pescara and then to Pisa. In 2014 he was loaned to Spanish club Granada and at the start of the 2018/19 season Manaj made the move to Albacete where he made 29 appearances in the Spanish Second Division, scoring eight goals. The striker also scored once in the Copa del Rey for the club from La Mancha and made his debut for the Albanian national side in November 2015 aged just 18.