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Barcelona could be about to lose centre-back Marc Bartra on the cheap due to a similar contract clause to that which led to Thiago Alcantara's cut-price move to Bayern Munich in summer 2013. Bartra, 24, signed a new deal at the Catalan club in March 2014, at the time disappointing reported suitors including Tottenham, Liverpool, Inter Milan and Valencia. That deal contained a release clause thought to be set initially at €25 million, which would then rise or fall depending on the number of games played in future. The homegrown defender has started just 10 of Barca's first 37 La Liga games during the 2014-15 campaign, leading Sport to claim he would be available this summer for just €10 million. The case seems to mirror that of playmaker Thiago, whose clause dropped from €90 million to just €18 million when he played less than 60 percent of Barca's games in 2012-13. This allowed Bayern to secure the signature of a player who is now an automatic first-choice for coach Pep Guardiola. Bartra is not as highly rated as fellow La Masia graduate Thiago, and current Blaugrana coach Luis Enrique appears to see him as third or fourth choice. However the composed defender is already a full Spain international, and Sport say that teams in Germany and England are monitoring the situation closely.
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