Barça will begin pre-season on Monday with a very different defence.
Mapi León and Ona Batlle have left. Laia Aleixandri is still recovering from the anterior cruciate ligament injury she suffered in February, for which the club estimated an absence of between ten and twelve months. Two regular starters have departed, while another centre-back expected to play an important role is not yet available.
The club’s first decisions ahead of the 2026/27 season have focused precisely on that area.
Renee van Asten has arrived from Ajax. Martina Fernández returns after eighteen months at Everton. Carla Julià leaves the reserve team to become a permanent member of the first-team squad. Julia Torres joins from Sevilla to continue her development within Barça’s academy structure.
All four are aged 21 or under.
One arrives from another club, another returns after developing in England, one steps up from the reserves and the youngest begins a path that may eventually lead her towards the first team.
They do not occupy the same place within the project or arrive with the same level of responsibility. But they are all part of the same idea.
There is no single replacement for Mapi
Mapi leaves Barça after nine seasons and more than 300 appearances.
She was not simply one of the team’s starting centre-backs. Her distribution, her ability to defend far from her own penalty area and her influence within the squad were all part of Barça’s identity.
Ona also departs after three seasons in which she became an almost automatic choice at right-back. Her ability to play on either side, carry the ball forward and move into central areas provided solutions that cannot easily be replicated by one player.
The two departures affect different positions, but alter the same structure.
Barça have not looked for a replica of Mapi or a direct replacement for every role Ona performed. They have spread the rebuilding process across different profiles and different timescales.
Van Asten and Martina arrive to compete
Renee van Asten is the signing from outside the club.
The Dutch defender arrives aged 19 after completing her first season in the Eredivisie with Ajax. She was named the league’s young talent of the year, made her senior debut for the Netherlands and has signed until 2030.
Her signing is about the future, but not only the future.
Barça are not bringing in a centre-back who needs to be developed from the beginning. Van Asten was already a regular starter in Amsterdam and arrives ready to compete for minutes.
Martina Fernández represents a different route.
The defender left Barcelona in January 2025. She spent her first six months at Everton on loan before the English club signed her permanently. Barça retained a buy-back option and have now exercised it to bring her back on a contract until 2029.
Martina started all 22 matches of the most recent Women’s Super League season, an ever-present for Everton. She returns at 21 with experience in a more physical league and an existing understanding of Barça’s playing model.
Van Asten and Martina are not arriving to wait for the next era to begin.
They are here to take part in it immediately.
Carla steps up and Julia begins
Carla Julià joined Barça B in 2025 and quickly established herself in the team. In that same first season she played seventeen Liga F matches, thirteen of them from the start.
She has now extended her contract until 2030 and will become part of Pere Romeu’s senior squad. At 19, she is no longer a reserve-team player borrowed by the first team, but a first-team player in her own right.
Julia Torres begins at a different stage.
The left-footed centre-back joins from Sevilla aged 17, having already made her Liga F debut and progressed rapidly through Spain’s youth national teams. The agreement places her within Barça’s academy structure rather than guaranteeing her an immediate and permanent role with the first team.
That is precisely why she matters.
Julia should not be expected to replace Mapi now or be presented as a solution for the next match. Her signing shows that Barça are not rebuilding their defence solely for the season ahead.
They are also preparing for the years beyond it.
Youth will not stand alone
The rejuvenation of the defence does not mean handing the entire unit to four young players.
Marta Torrejón has renewed until 2027. The second-most decorated player in the team’s history will begin her fourteenth season at the club and could surpass 500 official appearances. Irene Paredes is also under contract until 2027.
They maintain the connection with the defence that won Barça’s fourth Champions League while Aleixandri continues her recovery and the younger players find their places.
The rebuild is not finished either.
Van Asten, Martina and Julia increase Barça’s options in central defence, and Carla adds one on the left, but the club have not yet announced a direct replacement for Ona at right-back.
The transfer market may still bring further additions.
For now, the first idea is clear: retain enough experience to compete immediately while using major departures to accelerate the arrival of a new generation.
Barça have not found a single heir to Mapi.
They have spread the future of their defence across several players, each arriving at a different stage.
