Marcus McGuane is Arsenal through and through, but jumped at the chance to play for Barcelona.

It’s not often that Barcelona come to us and poach our young talents, but they did just that during the January transfer window.

Marcus McGuane, a highly promising midfielder who had been with the club since he was a boy, joined the Barcelona B team for an undisclosed fee.

The Independent have outlined some of the reasons behind the move.

One was simply that he had no guarantee of first team football at Arsenal.

He was at a point where u23 football wasn’t competitive enough, yet the first team was too crowded for him get a chance outside of brief appearances in the Europa League.

In Spain, he can play for Barcelona’s B team in the second division and get regular, professional minutes.

According to the Independent’s report, McGuane had 30 clubs interested in him as he was out of contract in the summer.

Due to his loyalty to Arsenal and having a Spanish speaking girlfriend, he opted for Barcelona.

Sassuolo in Italy were also seriously considered, as they offered him first team football.

McGuane joins Chris Willock (Benfica), Daniel Crowley (Willem II) and Kaylen Hinds (Wolfsburg) on the list of Arsenal players who have departed to new countries.

He’s also one of several English players to move abroad, along with the likes of Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund) and Reece Oxford (Borussia Monchengladbach).

It’s clear that this generation of English talent is more open to moving abroad than their predecessors were.

McGuane made his Barcelona B debut during the weekend.

He came on as a 74th minute substitute against Cordoba and helped his side overturn a 1-0 scoreline.

Should he develop and progress through the ranks at the clubs, maybe one day we could claim he has Arsenal DNA and bring him back.