Barcelona have reached an agreement with Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta on a deal that would see him earn €13m a year at the Nou Camp.
That’s according to AS, who provide the details on the deal the Spaniard has agreed if he is allowed to leave Chelsea this summer.
For the uninitiated, Azpilicueta’s deal with the Blues expires this summer, and while he has indicated he would like to leave, it is not as simple as he would hope.
That’s because Chelsea have an option to extend his deal by a year, meaning they can block him leaving on a free transfer if they wish to.
However, it’s been unclear whether they will be able to, given the sanctions currently on the club and Roman Abramovich’s efforts to sell up.
In the meantime, Barcelona have been making efforts to get a deal with the player lined up for months and AS provide the details on that.
They say Barcelona have ‘already agreed’ a deal with the Chelsea man that will see him earn a gross salary of €13m a year for two years. The contract also includes an option to extend it by another year.
They have not been able to finalise the deal, though, as it all depends on the Blues’ impending sale.
Azpilicueta is waiting for that to be finalised so he can sit down with those in charge of the club and ‘agree his release’.
There is an agreement that despite the extension option in place, he can leave, and the Blues will ‘offer the defender the promised exit’ once their sale is finalised.
It’s now a case of waiting to see if Chelsea ‘keep their word’ and let Azpilicueta leave as planned. If they do, he will return to Spain with Barcelona, who are ready to pay him a big sum after Mateu Alemany ‘fought for’ his signature.
