Clara Serrajordi: Barcelona teenager steps into midfield role vacated by Alexia Putellas
Clara Serrajordi, an 18-year-old Barcelona midfielder, started Barcelona’s 4-0 Champions League final win over OL Lyonnes in Oslo in May 2026 and has this season been charged with filling the void left by Alexia Putellas. The La Masia graduate, who made her first-team debut at 17, has been fast-tracked into a prominent role under coach Pere Romeu.
Serrajordi was scouted at age 11 in 2018 while playing for CE Llerona, a team that faced Barcelona’s alevín side, and she credits the academy approach for shaping her game. She is a keen chess player and uses it to disconnect from football, noting similarities between the board and her on-field thinking. Reflecting on her early feelings about Barcelona she said: “I would play against them and they were so good,” she reflects as she sits down with Moving the Goalposts. “I thought to myself, those girls are going to be my teammates and I didn’t believe it at first. I would just repeat to myself: ‘I’m going to be with the best’.”
During the 2025-26 season Serrajordi started 19 of the 26 league matches she played, scoring one goal and registering three assists. She lists a Champions League title, two league championships, two Copa de la Reina trophies and one Supercopa among her honours; she said, “When I first signed I never thought I would achieve everything that I have.” At the beginning of the current season she suffered an arm fracture that sidelined her for a month, but she has since accumulated 311 minutes on the pitch.
Romeu’s decision to start Serrajordi in May’s Champions League final was a defining moment in her breakthrough; she recalled the selection and the pre-match reaction: “I didn’t expect [to be a starter], honestly. I found out in the pre-match talk and when [Romeu] told me, I only thought ‘OK, we need to go out with everything and fight for the most important title of the season.’ For me, it was a dream and to have achieved that in my first year; it was special.”
Observers note physical and stylistic parallels between Serrajordi and Putellas, and Serrajordi acknowledges the comparison while stressing Putellas’ singular status at the club. “In the end, Alexia is an indisputable Barça player,” says Serrajordi. “All the years that she was at the club and everything that she’s shown the world, she’s one of a kind, and no one can be like her. But in terms of style of play, we all play very similar.
“All the midfielders that come from the academy have a very similar style of play. We all have the Barça style and she definitely has it. So, there are some similarities, yes, but I can only hope to one day become like her, but I still have a lot of things to improve.”
Serrajordi describes being welcomed by established first-team players and credits that integration with her ability to perform when called upon: “I had always followed the first team and all the players,” Serrajordi says when asked what it was like to play with her idols. “From the first moment they adopted me and all the younger players who came into the first team. Because of that, we’re able to perform on the pitch the way we do, they give us confidence to play our game. To be surrounded by the best in the world is easy. A lot of people say, wow, Serra plays really well, but Serra wouldn’t play like this if she wasn’t next to Patri [Guijarro], Aitana, Alexia and all my teammates.”
Departures and injuries have compelled Barcelona to rely on academy prospects this season, and Serrajordi has been one of the players called on to fill gaps both on the field and in the dressing room. That responsibility includes stepping into the role vacated by Alexia Putellas after Putellas left the club to join London City Lionesses last summer.