Miami-born Konrad de la Fuente, who spent eight years in the Barcelona system, has joined Swiss club Lausanne sport on a permanent transfer after parting ways with former club Marseille.
“FC Lausanne-Sport is delighted to announce the signing of Konrad de la Fuente from Olympique de Marseille,” the team announced in a press release on Wednesday. “The American winger has signed a three-season contract with the Lausanne club.”
Despite the early promise and hype associated with the American player, who joined Barcelona’s legendary La Masia academy in 2013 before his 12th birthday, the speedy winger never really broke through to the first team on a consistent basis and left for French club Marseille in the summer of 2021.
While he did make 23 appearances and score one goal across multiple competitions for the team in his first season, he was subsequently sent out on loan in the two seasons since then. Most recently, he spent a year at Spanish La Liga 2 club Eibar, scoring three goals in 21 league appearances as the team narrowly missed out on promotion.
He made his USMNT debut in November, 2020 following a number of appearances at various youth levels, and has a total of three caps, the last coming in 2021.
At Lausanne, he joins a team that finished 10th in the 12-team division last season, although a relatively safe seven points clear of the division’s relegation playoff spot. They have bounced back and forth between the top two divisions in Switzerland for much of their recent history, last qualifying for European competition in 2010.
They are indirectly owned by British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, who also holds a major stake in Manchester United, after his failed attempt to acquire Chelsea in 2022. Their head coach since 2002 is former Swiss international Ludovic Magnin, who guided the team to their most recent promotion after the 2021-22 season.
Lausanne already began the current season with a 3-2 home win over Basel on Sunday, and will visit newly-promoted Sion on Saturday in their next game.
