Midfielder To Reject England Switch For Barcelona
REUTERS/Albert Gea
Sergi Roberto may have been drawing all sorts of interest from Premier League giants Manchester United and Chelsea, but the Spaniard looks more than happy to remain at Barcelona.
The two English sides are believed to be in pursuit of the 25-year-old, as both teams have been plotting moves to bring the midfielder to England. Interestingly, Roberto’s current contract values him at about £36m – an amount that the two clubs from England can shell out without much thought.
Manchester United have been on the lookout for a quality midfielder. While they have brought in Nemanja Matic from Chelsea, Jose Mourinho believes there are still a few voids that he has to fill in order to emulate his prior success at the Mancunian club.
Chelsea, on the other hand, look somewhat depleted after losing their Serbian midfielder to United. Although they have acquired the services of Tiemoue Bakayoko, Antonio Conte still wants to fill three or four places, and the midfield spot is surely one of them.
However, the man they are chasing looks all set to remain at the Camp Nou for as long as possible. Following Barcelona’s 2-0 win over Betis in their season opener, Roberto said: “I’m happy, [against Real Madrid in the Super Cup] I was happy on a personal level, and I felt comfortable today, too.”
Many people speculated that the Spaniard could see a drastic decrease in game time after the arrival of Paulinho from Guangzhou Evergrande. However, manager Ernesto Valverde reiterated that the Spaniard is a vital cog in Barca’s machinery, and that he will consistently look up to him to deliver.
“In some games he will be a major player and in some games no, but he remains an important player,” Valverde was quoted as saying.
How the new Blaugrana boss plans to use the versatile Spaniard in the season remains to be seen. However, Roberto is bestowed with serious talent, and has a knack of scoring some important goals for his club.
It does seem highly likely that he will choose to remain at the Catalan shores, and look forward to pull Barcelona out of their troubled times – something he has already done in the past.
Written by Soumyarendra Barik 
Feels that every year is going to be Bayern Munich’s. Started off as a broadcast journalist with NDTV, but his love for writing brings him to the online world. A staunch believer!