Barcelona to sign Cristian Tello on improved contract

Barcelona’s Cristian Tello celebrates after scoring during a Spanish league football match versus Mallorca (JAIME REINA/AFP/Getty Images)

Barcelona’s promising young winger Cristian Tello is poised to sign a new and improved contract with the Catalan club. The 21-year old is said to have been in talks for quite a few months now with club officials over a new deal.

Catalunya Radio report that Barca were keen to get rid of a provision related to the player’s buyout clause, which reduced the buyout fee depending on how many times the player appeared for the club in a season. The club seems to still be smarting from the departure of young starlet Thiago Alcantara, who was bought by Bayern Munich for about €25m as a result of a similar clause in his contract.

The Spaniard is set to be handed a 2-year extension, which will see him commit to the club until June 2018. His buyout fee is also slated to go up to €30m from about €10m, which is the current buyout fee due to his limited number of appearances last year.

Tello, for some time, was the subject of much transfer speculation with Liverpool, Schalke and Borussia Dortmund rumoured to be interested in signing the winger, who was said to have been unhappy with the limited number of chances that he was getting.

But, the La Masia academy product is said to be ready to continue at the Camp Nou and is confident that he can fight it out for a place with the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Cesc Fabregas and Neymar all in the squad under new manager Gerardo Martino.