Xavi asks Busquets to renew with Barcelona

The list of possible replacements for Busquets is long. Ruben Neves, N'Golo Kante, Martin Zubimendi... If nothing changes, the veteran Barça player is living his last months at Camp Nou.

Busquets is free in January, but Xavi doesn't want to see him leave yet. He needs him. 'Sport' claims that the coach has asked him to stay for at least another year.

Barca's financial difficulties would have led Xavi to make this request to Busquets. They understand that it will be difficult to find a midfielder of his level, as they will not have much room for manoeuvre due to the 'Financial Fair Play'.

Xavi would have changed his mind about Busquets due to circumstances. At first, he was in favour of the captain leaving and, in his place, the club signing Zubimendi. But Zubimendi recently renewed his contract and his clause with Real Sociedad is 60 million euros, a figure Barca are not considering paying for him.

Joan Laporta acknowledged this Thursday, in an interview to 'Què t'hi Jugues', that Busquets had offers from the MLS and that he was thinking about it. Xavi is already trying to get the move to the United States out of his mind.

For Busquets to stay, the player would have to cut his salary quite a lot, adds 'Sport'. If he were to continue, he would have to be paid around half of what he currently earns. 

Barca will give Busquets all the time he needs to think about it. He has until the end of the season to decide whether to extend his contract until 2024.