Barcelona brings in Marlon Santos

The centre-back, 20, has already passed his medical and will start pre-season with Barcelona B under coach Gerard Lopez.

New Barcelona signing Marlon Santos in action.

Barcelona has signed Brazilian youngster Marlon Santos from Fluminense on a one-year loan deal, with an option to make the move permanent.

The centre-back, 20, has already passed his medical and will start pre-season with Barcelona B under coach Gerard Lopez. The Catalans were keen to add a young defender to their squad ahead of the 2016-17 campaign and had previously been linked with Davinson Sanchez.

However, the Colombian defender opted against moving to Camp Nou when told he would start with their B team and joined Ajax instead. Barcelona subsequently turned its attention to Marlon Santos and have now struck a deal with Fluminense.

Marlon Santos came through the ranks of the Fluminense youth academy and has made almost 70 appearances for its first team. He has been capped at Under-23 level for Brazil, but was left out of the squad for the upcoming Olympics in Rio.