Marques Says Goodbye to Barcelona After 12 Years

After 12 years in blaugrana, Marques has closed the book on his Barcelona story with a farewell message that reads like a love letter to the club that raised him.

The midfielder, who joined Barça at just eight years old and climbed every rung of La Masia before making his senior debut against Mallorca in February 2026, took to Instagram to confirm his departure and to explain why walking away now, however painful, is part of his growth.

The time has come to say goodbye

Marques framed his exit as the end of a childhood dream that somehow kept expanding as he rose through the ranks.

“After 12 years, the time has come to say goodbye to the club that has watched me grow up since I was eight,” he wrote, reflecting on a journey that took in every corner of Barça life: “Every season, every training session, every match, every trip, every victory.”

He did not gloss over the darker side. The injuries. The doubts. The suffering that shadows every academy prospect chasing the first team.

Those moments, he said, “taught me valuable lessons and helped me get to where I am today.” The payoff came with that first-team debut, the moment that turned all those years of work into something tangible. “I leave with the peace of mind of having given my all, and with the feeling of having fulfilled a dream I fought for over so many years: making my debut with the Barça first team.”

For a boy who arrived at eight, the step into the senior side always felt distant. “It is a dream I never imagined I would realize when I first arrived at the age of eight,” he admitted, adding that he has lived “unforgettable, unique moments” that will stay with him forever.

Gratitude to a club that “gave me everything”

The message then widened out, away from his own story and towards those who shaped it.

Marques reeled off the people who have stood beside him: “all the coaches, team-mates (many of whom have become great friends), physios, doctors, staff members, and everyone who has been by my side over these past 12 years.” Each one, he said, helped form “the player and the person I am today.”

He reserved a special line for those closest to him. His parents, his sisters, his partner, his friends. The ones who saw the strain behind the dream and “supported and stood by me unconditionally, helping to make this dream a reality.”

One theme ran through the entire message: pride in the shirt. “I have worn this badge on my chest with great pride all these years, and I always will,” he wrote, underlining that his bond with Barça will outlast his contract.

A painful decision, and a necessary one

If the gratitude flowed easily, the goodbye did not.

“I won’t deny that it hurts to leave,” Marques confessed. “The way this moment has arrived was unexpected, and it is not how I had imagined saying goodbye to the club of my life.”

He made clear this was not a break born of bitterness. Quite the opposite. “If I am doing this, it is because I truly love this club,” he explained, adding that over 12 years he has also learned “to understand and respect the decisions that have been made along the way.”

For his development, he sees this step as unavoidable. A painful cut, but a clean one. He leaves with good wishes for the club’s future and with the sense that, at least on his side, nothing has been left unsaid.

In the final lines of his letter, Marques circled back to the place that shaped him. “Barça has given me everything. Thank you for these 12 years. Thank you for helping me grow, for teaching me, for challenging me, and for allowing me to live a dream – at the club of my life – that I will remember forever.”

He signed off with one last declaration that makes clear where his heart will remain, wherever his career goes next.

“Long live Barca, always.”