Barcelona not worried about losing La Masia prodigy despite growing European interest

Ebrima Tunkara has been turning heads across European football, and Barcelona are well aware of the attention their prized La Masia talent is attracting.

The 16-year-old was one of the standout performers at the recent U17 European Championship, finishing the tournament with one goal and five assists.

This included a remarkable debut against Estonia in which he scored a penalty he won himself and contributed two assists in under 50 minutes. He was the only player in Sergio Garcia’s squad to start every match.

Scouts from top European clubs were present throughout the tournament, monitoring the bright young talent.

Barcelona have protected themselves

Ebrima Tunkara has turned heads at La Masia. (Picture credit: Instagram/@ebrimatunkara10)

According to Diario SPORT, the club are not panicking, as far as Tounkara’s future is concerned.

Following the painful departures of Marc Guiu and Dro in recent years, Barcelona implemented a new policy of progressive release clauses for academy players born from 2008 onwards.

Starting at a base of €6 million, it rises to €8 million upon a Youth League call-up, €10 million for reserve team appearances, €20 million upon registration with Barca Atletic, and €25 million after five first-team appearances, increasing further from there.

Tunkara has already triggered several of those thresholds. Having made his Youth League debut and received reserve team call-ups, his clause is expected to rise to €20 million this summer when he is registered with Barca Atletic.

A diamond in the rough

All eyes on Ebrima Tunkara this summer. (Picture credit: Instagram/@ebrimatunkara10)

The youngster, who arrived in Spain in 2017 from Gambia via Mataro, was spotted by Albert Puig in just 10 minutes of a youth match and has been at Barcelona since the 2018-19 season.

He is expected to join the first team’s pre-season training under Hansi Flick on July 13th.

From there on, it will be interesting to see whether Tounkara makes an impression and follow in on the footsteps of another kid from Mataro – Lamine Yamal.