On 11 June 2018 Watford paid FC Barcelona a fixed €13 million, plus four million in add-ons, for Gerard Deulofeu Lázaro. The deal ended the winger's ties with the club where he had grown up. Deulofeu was born on 13 March 1994 in Riudarenes, in the province of Girona. He is a winger who played in Spain, England and Italy, with spells at Barcelona, Everton, Sevilla, AC Milan, Watford and Udinese.
La Masia years
He joined Barcelona's academy in 2003 and worked his way through every youth level up to the Juvenil A side. With that team he won the División de Honor, the Copa de Campeones and the youth Copa del Rey in 2011. On 29 October 2011 he made his first-team debut against Mallorca at the Camp Nou. That year he mostly played for the reserve side, scoring 9 goals in 34 Spanish second division games. The following campaign he scored 18 in 33 and was named best player of the 2013 Segunda División. In the same year he added a La Liga title with the first team.
Two loans: Everton and Sevilla
In the summer of 2013 Barcelona loaned him to Everton. He made his debut on 24 August 2013 in the League Cup and finished his first spell in England with 29 appearances and 4 goals. The 2014-15 loan took him to Sevilla, where he made his debut on 30 August 2014 against Espanyol. He played 28 games for the Andalusian side and scored 3 goals. He was part of the squad that won the 2015 Europa League.
Goodison Park, Milan and a return to Barcelona
On 25 June 2015 Everton signed him permanently for €6 million. His second spell on Merseyside brought 75 appearances and 8 goals. On 23 January 2017 he joined AC Milan on loan and finished the season with 18 games and 4 goals. On 30 June 2017 Barcelona triggered their buy-back clause and brought him back. He was part of the squad that won La Liga and the Copa del Rey in 2018, but on 29 January 2018 he left for Watford on a six-month loan.
Watford and the 2019 FA Cup final
After the permanent move in June 2018, his time at Watford became the most productive stretch of his Premier League career. On 7 April 2019, in the FA Cup semi-final against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Wembley, he came off the bench with his side 2-0 down. He scored in the 79th minute and again in the 104th, during extra time, as Watford won 3-2. He became the seventh player to score twice in an FA Cup semi-final. In the final on 18 May 2019 Watford lost 6-0 to Manchester City. He left the club with 70 appearances and 17 goals.
Spain national team
At youth level he was a runner-up at the 2010 European Under-17 Championship. He then won two European Under-19 titles, in Romania in 2011 and in Estonia in 2012. At the 2012 tournament he scored twice against France in the semi-final, converted the fifth kick in the shootout and was named player of the tournament. He played at the 2013 Under-20 World Cup in Turkey, where Spain went out to Uruguay in the quarter-finals after extra time. He made his Under-21 debut on 6 September 2012 against Switzerland and was a runner-up at the 2017 European Under-21 Championship in Poland. His senior debut came on 30 May 2014 against Bolivia at the Sánchez-Pizjuán, a 2-0 win. His only goal for the Spain national team came on 28 March 2017 at the Stade de France, in a 2-0 win over France. He finished with 4 senior caps.
Udinese and the injury
On 5 October 2020 he joined Udinese on loan, and the club signed him permanently on 30 January 2021. In the 2021-22 Serie A campaign he had the best scoring season of his career, with 13 goals in 34 league games. On 12 November 2022 he tore his anterior cruciate ligament in a match against Napoli. Surgery in January 2023 was complicated by a cartilage infection, which kept him off the pitch. His record in Udine was 68 appearances and 18 goals. On 16 January 2025 the club announced that his contract had been terminated by mutual consent.
CataloniaForwardMarket value €9.4M