Mueez Ajao
– Sergio Busquets hopes to have made a decision on his future by February and admits he is attracted by the possibility of playing in Miami.
– Busquets, 34, is out of contract with Barcelona at the end of the season and is one of several big European-based players that is drawing interest from Major League Soccer side Inter Miami.
– Sources have told that Barcelona are also open to extending Busquets’ contract with the club, but they will leave the midfielder to decide what he feels is best for his career.
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– “I know it’s the last year [of my deal with Barca] but I have always said that I have nothing signed with anyone,” Busquets told Cadena Ser from Spain’s World Cup camp in Qatar.
– “I would like to have some certainty by February. I have always said I would like to play in the United States, above all in Miami, but from there I have not reached any agreement with any club — in the US or in any other league.
– “Barcelona will be the first to know. When I have made a decision, I will tell them.”
Sergio Busquets on stories of deal already agreed with Inter Miami for 2023: "No, I've not decided yet – there are lot of stories and similar but I've nothing signed or agreed with any club", tells @ellarguero. 🚨🇪🇸🇺🇸 #FCB
"I'd like to decide in February – for sure, not now". pic.twitter.com/34s1BqI7nk
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) November 30, 2022
– Busquets — who joined Barcelona in 2005 and has been in the first team since 2008 — is not the only player on Inter Miami’s radar.
– Former Barcelona teammate Lionel Messi has also been strongly linked with the MLS side. A report last week suggested a deal was already in place for him to move to Florida, although sources told ESPN nothing had been agreed and that Messi, like Busquets, would not make any decision on his future until after the World Cup.
– Messi, 35, could also decide to extend his deal at Paris Saint-Germain, which expires in June, while there is also tentative interest from Barca in bringing him back to Camp Nou.
– “If he wants to return at any moment, who would not like to coach him?” Barca coach Xavi Hernandez told reporters in Qatar on Tuesday. “He is still the No.1.”
– However, as Messi prepares for Argentina’s make-or-break group stage game against Poland on Wednesday, LaLiga president Javier Tebas poured cold water on a possible Barca return, saying he would be out of their price range.
– “I don’t know what [Messi] wants,” Tebas said. “First of all, if he wants to leave PSG; secondly, if PSG will let him leave; and, thirdly, it then depends on what he earns, right?
– “If all these three things fall into place and it’s an affordable amount for Barcelona, inside [LaLiga’s] financial regulations, he will sign. But it depends on what he earns. If it’s what he earned when he left [in 2021], then no. With the amount Messi earns [at the moment], only PSG can afford him.”
– Barcelona’s financial situation did improve last summer after they sold club assets worth over €700 million, but the signings of Robert Lewandowski, Jules Kounde and Raphinha, among others, means there is currently no money left for the January transfer window.
– “Right now, we cannot sign in January,” sporting director Jordi Cruyff said on Tuesday. “The fair play situation has changed for a cumulation of reasons.
