Barcelona’s scouring of the globe for the best teenage talents continues, and this week Director of Football Deco saw his business take him to Croatia, where he met with a promising Brazilian talent.
In recent years, Barcelona moved to recruit Mikayil Faye from NK Kustosija from Croatia’s second tier, and have also been heavily linked with Portuguese talent Cardoso Varela, who is now playing for Dinamo Zagreb. Various reports have suggested that Barcelona have negotiated a potential future deal for Varela.
Deco meets with Rafael Belinho
Meanwhile this week, Sport have revealed that Deco met with 16-year-old Rafael Belinho on Tuesday night. The meeting took place in a hotel with his agent in Zagreb. Belinho is represented by agent Andy Bara, who has plenty of connections to the Blaugrana, having brokered the signings of Joan Garcia and Dani Olmo, as well as Faye.
As for Belinho, he generally plays behind the striker, although is also used cutting in from the right onto his left foot. He supposedly stands out for his reading of the game, and his vision. Belinho moved to Croatia in 2022 at the age of just 13, and was picked up by Dinamo Zagreb the following summer, where he now operates for the under-19 side.
Barça’s attacking machine under Flick keeps rolling. Last season they scored a staggering 174 goals in 60 matches (2.9 per game), the best record in Europe, and they’ve already hit that rhythm again with 18 goals in six official games so far this season. @juanjimenista
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) September 25, 2025
Deco travels to Zagreb
The following day, Deco was reportdly in the director’s box at Maksimir to take in Dinamo’s 2-1 victory over Fenerbahce in the Europa League. Former La Masia talent, whom Barcelona have a buyback option on, Sergi Dominguez put in a strong performance at centre-back, while the aforementioned Varela came on in stoppage time.
Bara’s influence at Barcelona
Belinho is just the latest talent to move to Barcelona, since Faye, Olmo and Garcia. This past summer, 18-year-old Croatian midfielder Lovro Chelfi also made a surprise €300k move from Kustosija to Barcelona, and has joined the under-19s side. It is also thought that Bara could play a role in talks with Varela.
