'Busquets is crucial' - Barcelona offer legend fresh terms

Stuart Telford

• Updated: 7 Mar 2023 15:31 GMT
• 3 min read

Sergio Busquets has been offered a new contract valid until 2024, despite Barcelona's financial dire straits.

Busquets is in the final year of his existing deal at Camp Nou, with Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr and David Beckham's Inter Miami among the clubs reportedly circling.

Barca have been told to balance their books to the tune of €200 million ahead of next season, and Busquets, as the second-highest paid player at the club after Frenkie de Jong, had looked almost certain to be offloaded.

READ: Busquets still bleeds for Barca but is a contract extension possible?

But he remains first choice at the base of midfield in Xavi's 4-3-3 formation, and the club are doing everything they can to keep the player.

'Busquets is crucial'

"Sergio Busquets is crucial for us," Barca president Joan Laporta told Mundo Deportivo. "Xavi wants him to stay for one more year. We'll send him a proposal valid until 2024.

"Sergio has to decide with his family. It's about the country also, he has very big proposals…"

READ: Chelsea launch €80m Frenkie de Jong bid

Busquets earns €37m per year before tax at Barcelona, just €500,000 less than De Jong in a year, so offloading him would clearly alleviate the club's financial troubles.

He also still carries a transfer value of €27.8m at 34 years of age, owing in part to his unique interpretation of the defensive midfield role.

Laporta has not disclosed what the fresh terms are, but the chances of them being as lucrative as the deal he signed in September 2018 would appear to be slim at best.

Al Nassr could certainly afford to keep him at the same salary level, having offered Cristiano Ronaldo €200m a year to join them in January, making the former Manchester United man the highest paid player of all time.

Busquets has made 713 appearances for Barca since being promoted to the first team back in 2008, winning eight La Ligas and three Champions Leagues since.