Barcelona are yet to find an agreement to extend the contract of midfield starlet Gavi after months of ineffective negotiations. There has been no secret among the footballing fraternity regarding buzzing admiration for the 17-year-old La Masia youth product, who just experienced his breakthrough season in 2021/22 with the Blaugrana.
Among the European giants interested, Liverpool have made their presence known umpteen number of times, and now Milan are also reported to be in the race, in case talks between the player and the Spanish club breaks down, as per La Repubblica.
Gavi’s contract at Camp Nou expires in 2023, and Barcelona are pondering to add a €1 billion release clause in their next contract offer to ward off other clubs from sniffing around for his signature. His breakthrough season has put entities across Europe on high alert, and according to ESPN, a ‘huge financial effort’ will be put forward to make him stay in Catalunya.
The youngster is expected to sign a five-year contract worth €5M net per season, that would gradually increase to €6-7M by the time he is in his third year of agreement. Future wages are set to be performance-based, but Barcelona’s current financial standings leave them in a grey zone.
Liverpool, of all the teams, are prepared to meet his release clause of €50M, and are even prepared to offer him a whopping salary package of €9M net per season – which would make him the highest earning teenager in the history of the beautiful game.
Official negotiations are expected to be held soon at the Camp Nou in order to finalize the midfield prodigy’s future at the club, failing which, other teams, including Milan are ready to pounce.
The highly-rated Spaniard recently became his country’s youngest ever goalscorer, breaking Barca teammate Ansu Fati’s record.