Sergio Busquets has penned a new 5-year deal with Barcelona
After long-drawn negotiations between Barcelona and the representatives of Sergio Busquets, the La Masia graduate has finally signed a contract extension, prolonging his stay at the club till 2023 and increasing his release clause from €200 million to €500 million.
Busquets is the first player to renew his contract with the club this season, after Robert Fernández negotiated the extensions of Gerard Piqué, Samuel Umtiti, Ivan Rakitić, Carles Aleñá, Sergi Roberto and Lionel Messi last season.
This is an important achievement on the part of Éric Abidal, showing that he can keep important players at the Camp Nou, besides signing players. Fortunately, his very first contract negotiation was with the vice-captain of the squad.
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Sergio Busquets will stay at Barcelona till he is 35. By the time his contract expires, it is unlikely he will retain a place in the first-team. But the veteran defensive midfielder is expected to hold onto his spot in the first-team at least for a couple of years.
As for his release clause, no club would have paid €200 million for him anyway. They are even less likely to pay €500 million for his services. So, Éric Abidal has ensured that Sergio Busquets is not offloaded for a fee.
But Busquets is suffering from a spell of bad form currently. The 30-year old holding midfielder has been unimpressive in recent games, with his worst performance coming in the 2-2 draw against Girona.
He gave the ball away, and failed to co-ordinate with the defenders. To justify his new contract, the club vice-captain needs to start stepping up, and he needs to improve his form considerably in order to do that.