Marc Casado joins Deportivo on loan from Barcelona

Marc Casado left Barcelona for Deportivo De A Coruña on transfer deadline day, joining the newly-promoted side on loan with a €30m purchase option attached.

Soriano, sounding taken aback, asked him to confirm it. Casado did not hesitate: "Honestly."

The move came at the end of a market that dragged on far longer than anyone at Barcelona would have liked. Casado, who turns 23 on 14 September, had known since the start of pre-season that Hansi Flick did not see him in his plans, and by his own reckoning he turned down offers from Saudi Arabia and Turkey because he wanted to keep playing regularly rather than chase the biggest pay cheque. A permanent transfer to Bayer Leverkusen was reportedly the deal with the best chance of going through, pushed by Carles Martínez, who had worked with Casado at La Masia, but it collapsed when Robert Andrich's own departure from Leverkusen failed to materialise. Barcelona had wanted a fee of around €25m for a player valued at €30m-€40m only a year earlier; Betis and Elche were also credited with interest in a loan.

His playing time had been cut sharply this season, with roughly half the minutes and starts of the previous campaign, and the arrival of Rodri in midfield left little room for him to force his way back in alongside Gavi and Marc Bernal once they return from injury. According to MARCA, the relationship between player and club had deteriorated by the end, with Casado unhappy at his treatment and Barcelona frustrated at how the exit was handled; the loan agreement that was eventually struck still leaves the club covering a significant part of his wages, a compromise reports say satisfied neither side.

Barcelona are said to be unhappy with agent Jorge Mendes over how the last-minute move was managed, having tasked him with finding Casado a new club once the two parties agreed last season that he would leave. For Deportivo, freshly returned to La Liga, the arrival of a 22-year-old Barcelona academy graduate on loan, with the option to make the deal permanent for €30m,