Paris Saint-Germain announced the signing of highly-rated teenage star Xavi Simons yesterday.The 16-year-old made a huge name for himself in Barcelona's academy setup and was expected to be the future of the Blaugrana.However, with Mino Raiola's influence, the Dutch starlet opted to move to Paris despite Barca offering him a new deal and a place in their U19 team.On paper, it looks like a big blow to the La Liga champions' youth setup, which has been in steady decline for a number of years now.But a report from Catalan paper Sport suggests that Barca staff are not at all concerned by Simons' departure.

In fact, La Masia staff have apparently been quoted as saying: "Now we can breathe easily."

Simons has become an international celebrity, amassing 1.7m followers on Instagram and staff believed he was more of a star off the pitch than on it.

There were said to be concerns about his willingness to be a team player and was only concerned with marketing his unique image.

It's also being said that Simons was only a permanent figure in Barca's youth setup last season because of a serious injury to Jorge Alastuey.

They also apparently rate Marc Casadó, Txus Alba, Ansu Fati and others higher than Simons.

In fact, they announced a new deal for Ansu today, handing him a €100m release clause in the process.

Maybe Simons' exit suited Barcelona?

Although, it does seem rather coincidental that this information is only coming out now after his departure.

If they really felt this way, why did they offer him a new deal?

Sport report that their decision to put a new contract on the table was spearheaded by the thoughts that they didn't want to be seen not making an effort to keep such a popular young talent.

Something smells a little fishy here...