Saul Niguez has signed a new Atletico Madrid contract, with the reported Barcelona target extending his deal to 2026.

Fresh from finishing as top scorer and a tournament runner-up at the UEFA Under-21 European Championship with Spain Under-21, Saul said he was delighted to be extending his time at the club.

"I am very happy because at Atleti we are a family and there is no better place to be," he said.

"I will work my full potential on the field as always to pay back the trust that the club is giving to me. I’d like to thank all my team-mates and the coaching staff for their help day by day so that I can be the player I am today."

Saul joined the Atletico academy in 2007 and was just 16 when he began playing for the senior reserve squad in 2011. A year later, he was training with the first team, an played in a UEFA Europa League game against Besiktas in 2012 aged just 17.

The Spanish youngster would not cement a place in the first team until the 2014-2015 season, though, after being sent out on loan to Spanish first division side Rayo Vallecano in the previous season.

In the 2015-2016 season, Saul established himself as a first team regular, playing 48 games and scoring nine goals, and last season he clocked up 53 games and scored another nine goals, four of them in the UEFA Champions League.