The captain of FC Barcelona Sergio Busquets is experiencing a real carousel of emotions in what will most likely be his last year at Barça, the club of his life. His link ends at the end of the course. And although the midfielder was always in favor of making decisions from the second half of the season, the reality is that he sees the end of his stage as a Blaugrana getting closer every day. At 34 years old, Busquets, aware and self-critical, competitive and demanding with himself, is more in favor of changing the scene to a less demanding football such as that of the American MLS.
On the bench, Xavi Hernández knows that the future and even the most immediate present of Barça must begin to roll without its captain. For this reason, the coach is looking for alternatives within the squad itself. Changes that could arrive today in the game that Barcelona will play against Villarreal. “It is true that we do not have a natural replacement. Nico and Pjanic decided to leave. But we have options: Frenkie de Jong, Franck Kessié or try a central defender, which would not be the most recommendable”, pointed out the coach. Meanwhile, in the offices, the Blaugrana sports management is already looking for a replacement. Both parties are further apart than ever.
There are several reasons that keep Busquets away from Barcelona and vice versa. Sporting reasons related to his age and his performance but also to the negotiations that both parties held last summer in search of a fourth salary adjustment. The feeling of disappointment is mutual.
Busquets ended up touched by the bad results that Barça got against Inter Milan and against Real Madrid. Also with the defensive mistakes he made in both games. However, although he is a veteran footballer who knows how to deal with criticism from the environment, no matter how fierce they may be, the captain has not been able to ignore the comments of President Joan Laporta, who threw a dart at him at the last assembly of compromising partners. Him and the rest of the captains. “If there had been discounts for some players, personal guarantees should not have been made,” recalled the president to explain the reasons that led him to guarantee, together with the treasurer Joan Oliver, 10 million from his pocket to be able to register Koundé .
“There were 14 salaries above the market. And the players who remain with those salaries are impossible to transfer, the clubs cannot keep them”, added the director of football Mateu Alemany, who lived a difficult summer embarked on the difficult mission of reinforcing a team while trying to lighten a wage mass that with the winter signings was 560 million. Despite releasing 18 players, including Alves, Aubamenayg and Adama who had arrived in January, the eight Barcelona signings in the transfer market, to which Dembélé's re-signing was added, caused the wage bill to increase by 27 percent. hundred. Or what is the same. Sports salaries went from 518 to 656 million for the 2022-2023 campaign.
This situation once again placed the economic focus on the captains. Alemany contacted the legal representatives of all of them. To Busquets, who always showed a good predisposition to return to help the club of his life, the sports management even proposed a renewal proposal to defer his salary.
No agreement was reached because although the predisposition was good, Busquets wanted to be able to decide his future during the current season. Adding a clause to defer his salary also entails legal and contractual complications if the player finally decides to move on to another project such as Inter Miami. And the footballer decided that he wanted and that he wants to be the owner of his future. “This course ends contract, it is a reality. We will see what happens throughout the season, how he feels and what performance he has. It is a very personal decision of yours. I also left him despite having an offer to renew, ”recalled Xavi Hernández, who is slowly getting rid of what has been one of his pillars. "There will be games in which he plays less or doesn't play," said the coach. Of course, their friendship is still intact.
