Barcelona might not be looking to extend the stay of their mercurial midfielder Ivan Rakitic at Nou Camp for another season, with the option of Marco Verratti coming into the club in the next summer.
The Catalan giants look favourites to sign the Italian midfielder from French Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain who might be a suitable player to replace their Spanish midfield maestro Andres Iniesta, who is in the twilight of his career, and might have to offload their Croatian attacker in order to raise funds to get their hands on the Italian enforcer.
Rakitic might be the most expensive player to leave Nou Camp in the recent years, with his value being around £45 million for the potential suitors to make a bid in the summer. It is not that the Catalan giants are in the mood to let go off their prized possession, but they might have to give up on their pursuit of Marco Verratti if they don’t have the requisite funds, for which they have to offload the Croatian attacking midfielder before the start of the next season.
A number of big name clubs from all over Europe have already lined up to make a bid for Rakitic to be a part of their squad for the next season. Reportedly, Manchester United, Manchester City and Bayern Munich are some of the names that are interested in bagging the Croatian for the next season.
Rakitic has been a worthy successor of the Spanish midfielder Xavi, and had settled in the squad in his place with absolute precision to his role. The influential midfielder came into Nou Camp from Sevilla in 2014 and has been an integral part of the team since his arrival.
He has been playing a very important role behind the attacking trio, supplying the right ball at the right time to help them score goals as well as chipping in with occasional goals himself to keep his team in the pole position.
Rakitic has played 159 games for the Catalan giants so far, in which he has made a very important contribution with 25 goals. He also has laid off 23 assists for Barcelona, allowing his teammates to get their names on the score sheet. Last season has not been the best for the former Spanish La Liga champions, but the 29-year-old was still up to the mark with 12 goals and eight assists to his name.
Last year, Manchester City were much interested in bagging the Croatian playmaker for their squad, but the deal did not materialise. So should they look to complete this deal this summer?
