Sergio Busquets Decides To Leave FC Barcelona, Tells Club: Reports

FC Barcelona captain Sergio Busquets has already decided to leave the club who he has informed of his decision according to MARCA.

Busquets’ contract expires on June 30, and first team coach Xavi Hernandez has publicly stated that he wants his former teammate and current skipper to continue in Blaugrana next season.

According to MARCA, however, Busquets told Barca a few days ago that he will move on in the summer with an announcement on the matter expected soon.

The daily Spanish sports newspaper suggests that Busquets might speak up immediately, or wait until the Catalans win what would be an impressive ninth La Liga crown on his watch.

This could happen on Sunday at Barca’s cross-city rivals Espanyol and would be a perfect send-off for a figure widely regarded as one of football’s greatest ever defensive midfielders.

At 34, after having won everything in the game including three Champions League titles plus the Euros and the World Cup with Spain, it appears Busquets is ready for a change of scenery outside the Old Continent.

He has been linked with a move to Inter Miami in the past, yet the turn of the week saw El Chiringuito report that he and close friend Lionel Messi have jointly-accepted offers from Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia.

While Messi will reportedly take home anything between €350-600 million ($383-756 million) a year in the Middle East if the report is accurate, Busquets has been offered €18 million ($19.7 million) according to Mundo Deportivo in February.

On Tuesday, however, Messi’s father and agent Jorge Messi denounced reports from El Chiringuito and the AFP in France attesting that no final decision has been made through an official statement.

This doesn’t mean that Busquets might not have reached his own agreement, though, and his next destination could be cleared up before the Argentine’s.

Busquet’s exit will split Barca fans. Though some argue that there is no like-for-like replacement for their number ‘5’, others feel that his best days are behind him and that the club could do with his salary off the books at a time when Barca must shed €200 million ($220 million) from the wage bill to navigate Financial Fair Play Limits.

In January, the same MARCA journalist that wrote Tuesday’s report on Busquets leaving Barca, Luis Rojo, stated that he currently earns more than €20 million ($20 million) a season at Camp Nou.