The 2026/27 La Liga season got underway this past weekend and one of the players who happened the catch the eye of fans was Racing Santander starlet Sergio Martinez.
The 19-year-old midfield ace scored a brilliant goal for the newly-promoted La Liga club in their opening fixture against Villarreal.
A highly-talented prospect, Martinez’s potential has not gone unnoticed with multiple big clubs in Spain keeping an eye.
Barcelona monitoring Martinez
And, according to AS, Barcelona are one of the clubs closely monitoring the development of Martinez at Racing Santander.
The Blaugrana are also tracking one of his teammates at the club, Jorge Salinas, and have been trying to sign the versatile defender for weeks now.
Sergio Martinez scored a brilliant goal on his La Liga debut. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)
It is now being claimed that the La Liga champions are also keeping a close watch on Martinez, as are their arch-rivals Real Madrid and Villarreal.
Attempt already made
In fact, the report further goes on to claim that Barcelona and Real Madrid had already made an attempt to sign Martinez from Racing last season.
Indeed, approaches were made to both the player’s representatives and the Spanish club back in January about a possible move for the teenage prospect.
However, nothing came of it and Martinez stayed put at Racing, helping them earn promotion to La Liga.
Martinez has a €3 million release clause. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)
And, making his La Liga debut this past weekend, the Spanish prodigy scored a thunderous goal, which has made everyone sit up and take notice.
While he has a contract with Racing until 2029, the deal is understood to contain a release clause worth only €3 million, making him a highly attractive prospect for Barcelona as well as other clubs.
For now, there is no indication that the Blaugrana intend to move for Martinez this summer, but they are, along with Real Madrid, closely following the young talent with limitless potential.
As for his teammate, Salinas, Barcelona hope to sign him, but are unwilling to meet his €16 million release clause, while Racing refuse to negotiate a lower fee for the young left-back, who can also play at centre-back.