Barcelona sweat on midfielder’s buyout clause as Paris St-Germain show interest
Drew Bartle Head Sports Editor
Paris St-Germain have emerged as late contenders to sign Barcelona’s Croatian World Cup runner-up Ivan Rakitic, who according to Spanish news source Marca, has a buyout clause of around €125 million (£112.2 million).
The 30-year old midfielder is viewed as one of the key figures at Barcelona for this season and played the full 90 minutes as the La Liga champions opened up the league season with a convincing 3-0 win over Alaves.
Ernesto Valverde is keen to see Ivan Rakitic remain and will fend off any advances from Paris St-Germain before the end of the August summer transfer window. However, with Rakitic having a buyout clause, the club will be unable to stop the Croatian talking to Thomas Tuchel’s side opening negotiations.
There are doubts though that PSG would be able to conclude any kind of deal for Rakitic due to the club’s financial regulations – the French champions would have to sell some of their top assets before August 31st to get the deal over the line.
Rakitic has already amassed a number of trophies including the Champions League and three Spanish La Liga titles – while also wracking up 99 caps for Croatia, scoring 15 goals.
