Patrick Kluivert Says a Loan Exit from Barcelona Could Help Carles Alena

Barcelona academy director Patrick Kluivert believes Carles Alena could improve if he left the club on loan. 

According to Onda Cero's El Transistor programme (h/t Football Espana's Colin Millar), Kluivert said on a potential loan move for Alena in January: "Maybe Alena leaving would allow him to return as a better player."

Alena, 21, established himself as a part of Barca's first-team squad last season.

Manager Ernesto Valverde handed him 17 La Liga appearances in 2018-19, 11 of them from the bench.

Compared to the season before, his Spanish top-flight game time increased from 40 minutes to 631 minutes.

In 2019-20, along with Ivan Rakitic in the centre of midfield, Alena has been pushed to the fringes after the summer purchase of Frenkie De Jong and the rise to prominence of Arthur.

The La Masia graduate has not played a minute of competitive football for Barca since he started their opening game of the 2019-20 La Liga season—a 1-0 defeat to Athletic Bilbao—and was hooked at half-time:

In the Blaugrana's 17 matches since, he has only been included on the bench five times and otherwise been left out of the squad completely.

As such, it would make sense for Alena to complete the season away from the Camp Nou where he can get more game time.

Cadena Cope (h/t Football Espana) reported that Getafe are interested in signing him, and they are likely to be able to offer him the chance to play in the UEFA Europa League knockout stages:

Per Marca's Juancar Navacerrada, Celta Vigo could also enter the race to sign Alena.