Official: Barcelona striker Rey Manaj joins Watford on a free transfer

A club statement says that a deal has been made between

and

Watford

for Rey Manaj to move to Barcelona. The Catalan club has the right to buy the Albanian striker first if he is ever sold, and they will pay 50 percent of any future transfer.

was born in Lushnje, Albania, on February 24, 1997. He played for

Granada

and Albacete before joining Barcelona B in January 2020. During his first full season leading the line for the Catalan club's second team, he scored 14 goals in 22 games.

Manaj got a lot of attention during the preseason last summer, when he played for the first team and scored four goals in just 117 minutes. The next year, he spent the season on loan at Serie A team Spezia, where he scored five goals and set up two others in 19 games.

He hopes to take his career to the next level in England and help Watford get back into the Premier League on their first try after being kicked out last year.

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