Two-time Ballon d'Or winner Alexia Putellas is set to extend her stay at Barcelona, sources have confirmed to ESPN.

Putellas, 30, is out of contract in the summer but a loose agreement has been reached to prolong her 12-year relationship with the club for at least two more seasons, with a third year optional.

There are still some final details to iron out, but an official announcement is expected soon, perhaps even before the Champions League final between Barça and Lyon in Bilbao on May 25.

Putellas, who won the World Cup with Spain last summer, spent a year with Barça's youth academy in 2005 before returning to form part of the first team in 2012.

The attacking midfielder has since gone on to make over 400 appearances for the club, winning 19 trophies, including eight Liga F titles and two Champions Leagues.

She has been one of the driving forces behind Barça's rise to the top of the game in recent years, with her performances helping the team win their first ever European trophy in 2021 and earning her the Ballon d'Or in 2021 and 2022.

A third Champions League trophy could follow next weekend when Barça face Lyon, who they have lost to in two previous finals, but before then they meet Real Sociedad in the Copa de la Reina final on Saturday in Zaragoza.

If Putellas and Barça can win both those games, having already clinched Liga F and the Spanish Supercopa, they will win the quadruple for the first time ever.

Putellas, meanwhile, also launched a new foundation this week, the Fundación Eleven -- a nod to her shirt number -- which aims to offer girls living in vulnerable circumstances the chance to take part in sporting activities that serve to foster their physical, mental and emotional development.

The project comprises of a number of academies, the first of which will open in her hometown of Mollet del Vallès, before centres are inaugurated in Latin America, in countries such as Colombia -- where an academy is set to open in Itagüí -- and Mexico towards the end of this year or early next year.

The project has guaranteed finances for the next 10 years and a commitment has been made to open another academy in the Dominican Republic in 2026.

"The idea came to me during the worst time of my career and one of the toughest spells in my personal life, which was when I injured my knee," Putellas, who was sidelined for the majority of the 2022-23 campaign, said at the launch of the foundation.

"The most important people in all of this are these girls who are living at risk and in vulnerable situations. Thanks to my family and the stability I've had in my life, I haven't had to go through that suffering."

Source:
courtesy of ESPN

by Sam Marsden | Moises Llorens

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