On 21 August, Mundo Deportivo reported that the story of Héctor Fort’s summer was a German one: Borussia Dortmund were his chosen destination, Roma and Real Sociedad had been turned down, and by 23 August the argument between the clubs was about the shape of the fee. On Wednesday it turned around completely. The Hector Fort Real Sociedad move is now the one at the front of the queue, with Fabrizio Romano — relayed by Barça Universal — giving it the “here we go” and reporting a full verbal agreement between the two clubs.
The headline number is below the range Barça were reported to be asking for last weekend. What sits behind it is not.
What you’ll find in this piece:
- What Romano and Mundo Deportivo each report about the fee — and where the two versions do not match
- The sell-on and buy-back clauses that keep Barça attached to a player they are selling
- Why Dortmund, the destination Fort was reported to want, has slipped
- The one thing MD say is still missing at the time of writing
- What it means for Flick’s defensive depth with the window closing at 00:00 on Tuesday 1 September
The Hector Fort Real Sociedad deal: what has actually been agreed
Romano’s post, carried by Barça Universal, is unambiguous on the clubs: Real Sociedad have reached a full verbal agreement with Barcelona for Héctor Fort, with a fee worth €8 million plus a 50% sell-on clause and a buy-back set at around €20 million, so that Barça keep future control of the player. Barça Blaugranes carry the same Romano-sourced structure, adding that Fort has been told he is surplus to requirements this season.
Mundo Deportivo’s version, filed by Jordi Batalla and updated at 20:11 CEST on Wednesday evening, describes the money slightly differently. MD put the transfer at €8.5 million for 50% of his rights — that is, Barça banking the fee and retaining half of the player’s economic rights outright, rather than taking a percentage of a future sale. The two descriptions are close in spirit and not identical in structure, and neither club has announced anything, so both are worth holding in view. MD add Romano’s €20m buy-back on top, framed as the clause Barça would use if Fort takes off at Anoeta.
Why Barça are selling at this number
Because the alternative was worse. MD reported on 23 August that Barça were asking €15-20m and would not go below €10m fixed, and on 24 August, relaying Bild, that the club wanted more than €10m from Dortmund. Barça Universal had Real Sociedad pushing on 25 August at a similar valuation with 50% of the rights or a buy-back attached. The valuation has come down since; the control has stayed. For a club selling an academy player it does not currently want, with the window closing at 00:00 on Tuesday 1 September, keeping a €20m route back is arguably the point of the whole exercise.
MD are blunt about where Fort stands with the manager: he does not figure in Hansi Flick’s plans, and he has been one of the players training away from the main group — an arrangement club sources dated to at least 21 August — specifically to avoid an injury complicating his exit. The clearest signal of all came on Tuesday, when MD reported that Xavi Espart had been promoted to the first team and handed the No. 12 — the number listed as Fort’s when Barça’s 2026-27 squad numbers were confirmed at the Joan Gamper Trophy.
How the deal came unstuck and then got done
MD — who say Jijantes were first to report Real Sociedad as the best-placed club — add that a meeting at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper on Tuesday, between Barça’s sporting management and Fort’s agents Arturo Canales and Fernando Solanas, unblocked the operation. Club-to-club conversations on the fee followed immediately afterwards.
The competition was real. MD report that Nottingham Forest and Everton both moved to check on Fort’s situation, and that Real Sociedad simply went up a gear in the closing days. Barça Universal, meanwhile, say the Dortmund deal has stalled — as recently as 23 August, MD had Dortmund’s emissaries in Barcelona trying to close it — and describe the switch to San Sebastián as a dramatic change of fortune for a player who was reportedly keen on the Bundesliga.
The part that is not finished
Here the sources genuinely diverge, and the divergence matters. Romano’s line, as carried by Barça Universal, is that Fort has said yes to Real Sociedad. MD’s piece, updated later on Wednesday evening, says something is still outstanding: the full-back “todavía debe dar el visto bueno a su futuro contrato” — he must still approve the terms of his future contract as a txuri urdin.
MD go further. They report that Fort’s representatives have gone back to Dortmund with an ultimatum, precisely because Germany was his priority. MD report only the ultimatum; they do not say what Fort has decided. Until one of the clubs announces it, the honest position is that the two clubs have agreed and the player has not signed, with Romano reporting Fort has said yes and MD, filing later, saying he has still to approve his terms.
What Fort is walking into at Real Sociedad
The sporting logic is the strongest argument for the move, and it is the one Barça Universal make. They argue Fort would not have been guaranteed minutes at Dortmund, where Julian Ryerson is well regarded, and that Pellegrino Matarazzo’s preference for technically gifted, forward-running full-backs suits him. They list Jon Aramburu and Álvaro Odriozola as the competition.
MD’s read is more favourable still: they say Real Sociedad have only Aramburu available at right-back, which would make Fort either a guaranteed deputy or a starter. The two descriptions of Sociedad’s depth chart do not match, and neither is a club statement, but both point the same way — this is a place to play.
That is what Fort has not had at Barcelona. Barça Blaugranes record that he arrived from PB Anguera in time for the 2013-14 season, came all the way through the academy, made his first-team debut in 2023-24 and never nailed down a senior place; last season he spent on loan at Elche. Read one way, the 50% and the €20m buy-back suggest Barça see that as a question of opportunity rather than of ability — Barça Universal put it more plainly, calling the buy-back something the club could activate if Fort makes a big breakthrough in LaLiga this season.
Why this matters for Flick’s squad
Very little, in the short term, which is rather the point. Asked at Wednesday’s pre-match press conference whether Barça would sign another defender, Flick said he is “fine with the back line we have now”, naming Eric García, Jules Koundé and Gerard Martín as players who can change positions, and singling out Andreas Christensen and Pau Cubarsí. He was not asked about Fort.
The cover behind him is real enough. Eric has been the settled right-back, Espart now has a senior registration and has played on both flanks, and João Cancelo is at the club permanently to 2029. Fort’s departure removes a squad option rather than a starter — which is precisely why the club were willing to let the fee fall as long as the clauses held.
What happens next
Three things, in order. Fort has to accept Real Sociedad’s contract, or Dortmund have to answer his agents’ ultimatum. The clubs have to convert a verbal agreement into signed paperwork, medical included. And all of it has to happen before the Spanish window shuts at 00:00 on Tuesday 1 September, with Barça hosting Athletic Club at the Spotify Camp Nou on Thursday in the rearranged Matchday 1, then Rayo Vallecano at home on Monday 31 August, kicking off at 21:00 — three hours before the window closes.
If it completes at the reported terms, Barça will have sold a homegrown full-back for a fee below the €15-20m MD say they were asking on 23 August, while keeping half his upside and a €20m option to bring him home. Whether that reads as good business or a surrender depends entirely on what Héctor Fort does in the Basque Country. For the fuller history of how the fee got here, read our earlier piece on Barcelona’s standoff with Borussia Dortmund over Fort’s price, and the report that had Real Sociedad turned down in favour of the Bundesliga.
