Star set to return to Barcelona as Man United lose another top player

It has been confirmed that Ona Batlle will become a new Barcelona Femeni player once her contract expires with Manchester United Women on July 1st.

It has been a pretty horrid summer thus far for Man United having lost Batlle as well as top scorer and England international Alessia Russo, who put out an emotional message to the fans about how difficult of a decision it was to leave her childhood team.

It seems as though Russo will be joining Women’s Super League rivals Arsenal this summer when her contract expires at the beginning of next month which is a blow to Man United given they finished above the Gunners last season.

Ona Batlle joins Barcelona

However, there is a consistent theme from both Batlle and Russo’s departures from Man United and that is how the Red Devils – who offered impressive financial packages – both contract proposals came far too late in the negotiation stages.

Batlle herself has been admitted that she is going to be earning less money than she could have been at Man United, however, the pull of Barcelona and going back to her home was simply way too good to be turned down.

T'estàvem esperant, Ona 💙❤️ pic.twitter.com/UgszxuzTW7

— FC Barcelona Femení (@FCBfemeni) June 19, 2023

The Spanish international will be hoping to enjoy a solid World Cup with Spain next month so she can then go into the Barcelona pre-season ready and raring to go both domestically and in Europe.

Marc Skinner will be furious to see, arguably, his two best players leave for absolutely nothing this summer, especially on the back of Man United’s best-ever season domestically so it’s now going to be all about getting their recruitment spot on.

Alessia Russo won’t be far behind Batlle

Man United will certainly have a fight on their hands to finish inside the Champions League spots again when they are simply losing key players instead of selling them a long-term project to stay with the Red Devils.

When it comes to Batlle, she would have been far more difficult to keep at Leigh Village because when her hometown club and reigning Champions League holders came calling it was always going to be near impossible, but for Russo, everything was there for her to succeed and thrive.

The Red Devils will be keen to strike up some deals early on in the summer to ensure that their fans have confidence in the club and manager to do what is best for their performances on the pitch and not leave people thinking they are now going to struggle to compete.