U.S. youth star Gill signs first Barca contract
United States youth international Adrian Simon Gill has signed a new three-year contract with Barcelona, the club announced on Friday.
Gill, 16, first joined Barca’s La Masia academy in 2018 and has advanced through the youth teams over the last four campaigns, now playing for the under-16 side.
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The midfielder will be promoted to the U19 set up next season, along with U.S goalkeeper Diego Kochen, who also recently penned new terms at Camp Nou.
Born in Denver, Gill has represented the U.S. at youth level and has been involved in training camps with the U17s this season.
Kochen, also 16, signed a three-year deal earlier in March to extend his stay at Barca, where he has already featured for the B team in a recent friendly fixture played behind closed doors.
New contract for US youth international @adrigill10 at Barcelona, who will join the Juvenil set up next season pic.twitter.com/v0N1j5B78h
— Samuel Marsden (@samuelmarsden) March 25, 2022
He was born in Miami to parents from Venezuela and Peru but has represented the U.S. on the international stage. He was in the U17 squad for matches against Argentina and Uruguay this month.
Gill and Kochen are aiming to become the third and fourth Americans to play for Barca’s first team, following in the footsteps of Konrad de la Fuente and Sergino Dest.
De la Fuente made three appearances for the club after coming through La Masia before joining Marseille last summer, while Dest has played 68 games since signing from Ajax for €20 million in 2020.