Barcelona have rewarded Fermín López‘s early-season form with a new contract that keeps him at the Catalan club until 2029 and includes a release clause of €500 million ($544.4m).

López, 21, missed some this season with a muscle injury but played 45 minutes in Barcelona’s impressive 4-0 rout of Real Madrid in the Clásico last weekend.

That followed an eye-catching individual outing in Barça’s 4-1 win over Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League last week, in which he provided two assists.

López came through the club’s famous La Masia academy, spending time on loan at Linares before being promoted to the first team during previous coach Xavi Hernandez’s time in charge.

In the 2023-24 season, he played 42 games and scored 11 times. His performances last season earned him a spot in Spain’s victorious Euro 2024 team, though he did not see much playing time.

He did feature heavily at the Paris 2024 Olympics where Spain beat hosts France to claim the gold medal in the under-23 competition.

Barcelona are top of LaLiga after 11 games, six points clear of Madrid in second.