Kessie signs Barcelona contract to join on a Free Transfer
Carlo Garganese
- 22 Mar 2022 08:50 GMT
- 3 min read
AC Milan midfielder Franck Kessie has signed his pre-contract with Barcelona and will join on a Bosman Transfer this summer, according to multiple sources in the Italian and Spanish media.
Gianluca Di Marzio was the first to report on Monday evening that Kessie passed a medical in Lugano over recent days before signing a four-year contract with Barcelona.
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Kessie will earn €7 million a year at Camp Nou and will officially become a Barcelona player on July 1.
The Ivorian had emerged as one of the most sought-after central midfielders in all of Europe over the past year.
Virtually every major club in Europe had been interested in the AC Milan central midfielder, whose contract expires at the end of the 2021-22 season.
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The Ivorian’s future at San Siro has for some time been very bleak and by the turn of 2022 the club had virtually given up hope of him staying.
Milan offered him a contract renewal worth €5m per season but Kessie has demanded €9m in order to stay.
As a result, contract talks between Kessie and Milan collapsed.
What other teams were interested in Kessie?
Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham were all admirers from the Premier League, in addition to PSG and Real Madrid.
Tottenham had made Kessie a primary target in January but failed to do a deal, much to the anger of manager Antonio Conte.
Kessie will be the latest free transfer signing at Barcelona.
Last summer, Barca signed a host of players on a Bosman, including Eric Garcia, Memphis Depay and the now-retired Sergio Aguero.
Barca splashed big in the January market so will have to be more careful with their money this summer.
Xavi was keen to add some muscle to what is a talented but lightweight centre midfield.
Kessie signed for Milan from Atalanta in 2017 and enjoyed the best season of his career in 2020-21, scoring 14 goals in all competitions from centre midfield to take the Rossoneri back into the Champions League for the first time in seven years.
This season, his form has dipped but he remains an important player as Milan aim for a first Scudetto since 2011.
