La Liga 18-19: Barca President issues warning on star's future

Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu has spoken about the contract situation regarding Barcelona's star midfielder Ivan Rakitic. The Croatian international has been generating interest from various clubs like, Inter Milan, PSG, Bayern Munich, and Manchester United are some of the clubs being linked with the Croatian playmaker.

This season, Rakitic has made 39 appearances across all competitions for Barcelona and has scored five goals for the club, with his most recent coming against rivals Real Madridin the El Clásico.

Barcelona coach, Ernesto Valverdeis believed to be a big fan of the Croatian and has asked the board to extend his contract. Some of the senior players like Lionel Messi, Luis Suarezand Gerald Piquealso want the midfielder to stay at the club. Rakitic is also rumoured to prefer staying at the club rather than leaving in the summer, although, he has demanded a better contract with a good pay hike to consider staying.

Real Madrid CF v FC Barcelona - La Liga

Recently Bartomeu was quoted saying in an interview,

"He has a contract with the club until 2021 with an option for the following season. Lately, we have been very focused on talks with Jordi Alba, who is the best left back in the world but we will soon talk with Ivan about a new deal."

He also added, "We are also focused on the end of this season and preparing for the next one".

It will be interesting to see if Rakitic stays at the club or decides to move on for a new challenge, especially considering Frenkie De Jong will be joining the Catalan giants in the summer.

Will the increase in competition for midfield places mean Rakitic might decide to move to another club or will a good pay hike be enough to make him stay? The summer transfer window will come with all the answers to these questions.