Weymouth sign former Barcelona youth superstar Joan Luque

National League side Weymouth has completed the signing of former Barcelona youth player Joan Luque as striker Andrew Dallas also moved to the club for a loan spell from Sky Bet League Two leaders Cambridge United.

Luque, who is a pacy winger, spent two years with the La Liga giants before parting ways with them at the age of 13. The 28-year-old winger has moved from club to club in the Spanish fourth-tier league, he spent two seasons with Sant Rafel where he was able to bag 23 goals in 72 appearances for the club as a winger.

He moved to Isthmian League North to Heybridge Swifts for the 2017/18 campaign, where he was able to score 30 goals in over 60 appearances for the club in all competitions. Not long after he moved to National League South to join Maidstone United, after a short spell with the club, Joan Luque opted to sign for Weymouth this January winter transfer window.

Luque will be offering better creativity in the Weymouth’s attack, which is something they have been lacking in their last few games, having registered five goals for the Stones this campaign.

Luque, who had played for Lincoln City, Concord Rangers, and Dagenham, scored his last goal in a 2-1 victory against Dorking in the FA Trophy last weekend. The Spanish winger was signed to the club right after Weymouth made a seven-day approach for the forward, who had gathered some experience in the League Two in his time with Lincoln City, fans were able to bet on all major football leagues the winger played having traveled all around England.

Speaking to the media via Dorsetecho, Weymouth’s manager Brian Stock said: “He traveled down Tuesday night after Maidstone gave clearance for him to join us.

“They’ve conducted themselves very, very well as a club and allowed the player to travel and to be in contention to play this weekend.

“He’s a player that has a lot of creativity, scores goals, creates goals, and has a real composure about his game.

“With the education, he’s had and the background, the type of footballer he is, he fits the mold of what I want a Weymouth player to look like.”

Luque’s addition to the team gives Brian Stock more options for the wing role, with Sean Shield, Jack Hoey, and Alefe Santos all going to be fighting for a stay in the starting lineup including the newcomer.

Luque and Dallas joined Weymouth despite rumors circling the National League campaign as the North and South divisions have been temporarily suspended for a fortnight now.

Dallas, who began his football career with Scottish giants Rangers in 2016, has enjoyed loan spells with League two Stenhousemuir and Greenock Morton from the Rangers. He joined Cambridge United to play in League Two in 2019. His career with Cambridge was short-lived as he fell out of favor in the team this campaign.

This could be reasoned with as Cambridge has Paul Mullin, who is the league’s top scorer with 18 goals, and Joe Ironside, who has 9 league goals to his name. They have both been pivotal for United as they currently sit top of the league table with 25 matches played so far.

Dallas, on the other hand, has only been able to register two goals in 23 league games for the Abbey Stadium side.

He will be a good addition to the Weymouth’s team as they seek to charge to the first half of the league table this season. Dallas will be joining Ben Thomson, Cody Cooke, and Josh McQuoid in the Weymouth’s attack.