Alex Collado close to leaving Barcelona to join Elche in season-long loan

Alex Collado is close to sealing a loan move to Elche until the summer of 2023 according to Fabrizio Romano. Collado asked Xavi Hernandez to leave Barcelona ten days ago – he wants first-team football and he’s unlikely to earn minutes at Camp Nou.

Marc Sanllehy, Collado’s agent, is currently in Barcelona’s offices to discuss the final details of the loan move. Collado, 23, has spent his entire senior career at Barcelona save for the second half of last season, which he spent on loan in Andalusia with Granada. He made 17 appearances for them across all competitions, providing two goals and one assists for the club.

Collado has made just two senior appearances for Barcelona’s first team but, being Catalan, still harbours an ambition to eventually making the grade at Camp Nou.

In Elche he’s going to find an interesting challenge – they finished 13th in La Liga last season but will be going into the 2022/23 campaign with their first priority being avoiding relegation.