Barça Atlètic Set to Land LDU Quito’s Josué Caicedo on Loan

While the centre-forward search has dominated FC Barcelona’s summer window, the club’s activity in the transfer market has not been confined to first-team reinforcements. Deco’s sporting department has continued to pursue younger targets in parallel, using loan-with-option structures to acquire promising South American talent for Barça Atlètic at fees that present minimal financial exposure – a policy that has already shown results with the Egyptian forward Hamza Abdelkarim, whose purchase option of €1.5 million the Catalans exercised after he earned a senior Egypt call-up.

As Barca News Network has reported, citing SPORT’s original reporting and subsequent confirmation from Fabrizio Romano, FC Barcelona have reached a verbal agreement to sign LDU Quito left-back Josué Caicedo on loan, with a purchase option set at approximately €2.5 million. Romano added that the option carries conditions that could convert it into an obligation, most likely tied to appearance thresholds – a clause structure consistent with Deco’s stated approach of limiting fixed commitments while retaining the upside on younger profiles.

At 18 years of age, Caicedo is one of the more highly regarded wide defenders to emerge from Ecuadorian football in recent years. He operates primarily as a left-back but has the ability to push higher into a wing role, and reports from Marca highlight his pace, one-versus-one defending, and attacking output as the qualities that drew Barcelona’s scouts to him. He caught the attention of the club’s recruitment staff through LDU Quito’s U-20 Copa Libertadores campaign before accumulating approximately ten senior appearances for the Quito side, including a start in their 3-2 Copa Libertadores victory over Always Ready on 26^th May. The sample is small, but Barcelona are deliberately moving early in the Ecuadorian market to avoid the premium that follows wider European interest.

The loan-with-option model reflects both financial pragmatism and strategic flexibility. A purchase option of €2.5 million is modest by European standards for an attacking full-back with genuine upside, and the conditional obligation clause means the Catalans are not exposed to that cost unless Caicedo reaches defined performance benchmarks. Caicedo is expected to work under Juliano Belletti at Barça Atlètic, where he will be integrated into a competitive environment designed to develop his positional understanding before any first-team conversation becomes relevant.

The deal adds left-back depth to a Barça Atlètic side that has seen Barcelona manage its reserve-team squad structure carefully in recent windows. Formal confirmation from both clubs, along with medicals and registration, is expected ahead of pre-season, at which point Belletti’s staff will assess how quickly Caicedo can absorb Barça’s positional framework.

Hopefully, Caicedo follows the trajectory Abdelkarim has set and gives the Catalans a genuine decision to make when the purchase option clause comes into play.