Barcelona Confirm Signing of Emergency Striker Martin Braithwaite From Leganes

​Barcelona have confirmed the signing of Leganes forward Martin Braithwaite on a four-and-a-half-year deal, after paying the Dane's €18m release clause. 

Following injuries to Ousmane Dembele and Luis Suarez, Barca applied for special dispensation to sign a Spain-based player or free agent outside of the transfer window. 

This was granted by the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) on Monday and the club moved quickly to activate Braithwaite's €18m release clause, with the signing announced on Thursday morning by Barcelona's ​official website.

The Dane, who had top-scored for Leganes this season with eight goals in all competitions, has curiously been given a long-term deal at Camp Nou until the summer of 2024, with a buyout clause set at €300m.

His former club now faces an uphill battle to avoid relegation having already lost another forward, Youssef En-Nesyri to Sevilla last month. Javier Aguirre's side are currently two points adrift of safety in 19th place. 

Braithwaite began his career in his native Norway with Esbjerg before moving to Toulouse in 2013. He spent four years in France after which he earned a £9m transfer to Middlesbrough, scoring nine goals in an underwhelming two-season spell at the Riverside Stadium.

He moved to Leganes this summer and will now be playing at Camp Nou for the foreseeable future. 

Braithwaite in is contention for the ​Barcelona squad that take on Eibar on Saturday and he could also make his Champions League debut in just under a week's time when his side travels to the Stadio San Paolo to take on Napoli. 

Leganes meanwhile have confirmed they too will seek special dispensation to sign a replacement outside of the normal transfer window, after being left in a 'situation of enormous damage' according to director Martin Ortega.

He said: "We want to raise our voices. We are in a situation of enormous and serious damage. We cannot understand the current regulation that a club, having a long-term injury can perform this operation unilaterally and transfer its problem to another club.

"We are excited about the possibility that the FA will allow us to sign a player. We will fight to make this possible."