Barcelona are reportedly preparing contract renewals for three key senior players, as confidence grows that they’ll tie up deals for Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta.
The wait goes on for both club legends to actually put pen to paper on new agreements, but as per Sport, the pair are on the way to inking fresh contracts.
In turn, the focus will switch to other players in the senior squad considered to be important figures in the short-term and long-term future of the Catalan giants, with Sport reporting that Gerard Pique, Sergi Roberto and Gerard Deulofeu will be next on the list.
The trio are described as three players with ‘Barca DNA’, and the club don’t want a similar situation to that of Neymar to arise, as they will not only renew their contracts, but will also include increased release clauses to protect their own position and avoid losing them.
An example of that is Sergi Roberto’s current contract which includes, according to Sport, a €40m release clause, an affordable price for many of Europe’s top teams for a player with great talent.
Both his and Pique’s contracts expire in 2019, hence the desire to renew the latter’s deal as his release clause isn’t an issue at €200m, according to Sport, while Deulofeu’s contract also ends in 2019 and he has a clause of just €20m which puts Barca in a very precarious position.
As a result, the club is putting a great importance on getting these deals sorted, as all three players in question seemingly have a very important role to play for them moving forward and they won’t want to lose them any time soon.