Konrad de la Fuente left Barcelona this summer to join Marseille in Ligue 1, but the winger has admitted that he wants to return to the Camp Nou. The United States international revealed that the only reason he left the Spanish club was to accelerate his development with regular senior football.

The 20-year-old joined Barcelona in 2013 and came up through the ranks at the famed La Masia academy. De La Fuente played for the Barcelona B squad last season, but was aware that regular game time with the first-team was not guaranteed despite travelling with Ronald Koeman's team during the previous campaign.

The Florida-born forward was keen to play first-team football, which saw him accept an offer from the Ligue 1 club earlier this summer. De La Fuente revealed that there were a number of offers on the table, but he chose Marseille as the club to continue his development.

"I'm an ambitious person, so for me, it wasn't that hard to leave," De La Fuente said, as quoted on ESPN. "My goal is to end up playing for Barcelona one day, and I know that the best way for that to happen was to leave, because I need to get those first division minutes."

"I had some good offers — I chose to go to Marseille. The best thing I could have done for my development was to start getting professional minutes early, to grow as a player and hopefully one day get back to Barcelona."

Barcelona agreed to sell the forward to Marseille for £3 million, which aided the club's need to raise funds this summer. De La Fuente has signed a deal until 2025 with the French outfit and has made five appearances in Ligue 1 registering two assists.

Marseille have made a strong start to the season and are currently in second position behind league leaders Paris Saint-Germain. Jorge Sampaoli's team remain unbeaten having won four of their five games and drawing the other.

Jorge Sampaoli
Jorge Sampaoli oversaw a win against Rennes in his first match as Marseille coach NICOLAS TUCAT/AFP
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