Barca extend contracts of B-teamers Muniesa and Sanchez

Madrid, April 5 (IANS) FC Barcelona announced that the club has extended the contracts of B-team players Marc Muniesa and Ilie Sanchez.

Twenty-year-old Muniesa has been a regular with the B-team for the past three years and has spent recent weeks working with the first team, making an appearance in the Champions League quarterfinal at home to Bayer Leverkusen.

His new contract, which expires at the end of June 2013 will see him promoted to the first team squad for next season and he will provide cover both at left back and also in central defence, Xinhua reported.

Spain under-21 international Muniesa has been with Barcelona all his career, joining the club as a 10-year-old in 2002. He made his first team debut in the last game of the 2008-9 season.

The new deal for Ilie Sanchez is a show of confidence for a 21-year-old player who has been injured all of the current season with an achilles tendon injury.

The two contracts continue Barca's policy of confirming the future of the club's most promising youth team players and Muniesa and Sanchez follow on from other players such as Martin Montoya, Jonathan Dos Santos and Isaac Cuenca, who have recently extended their deals at the Camp Nou.