Barcelona veteran will not leave the club with Busquets, Alba this summer – Romero

Now that Barcelona have confirmed two departures at the end of the season, namely, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets, journalist Gerard Romero has confirmed that there is going to be a third farewell for a Barça player at Camp Nou this Sunday and it is not Sergi Roberto.

Roberto, who will be Barcelona’s new first captain for the 2023/24 season, signed a new contract with the Blaugrana entity last year until 2024 with an option for a further season. The buyout clause mentioned in his contract is worth a whopping €400 million.

Now, it is no secret that Barcelona are heavily working on player sales in order to accommodate new arrivals in the summer. In that regard, while two exits have already been confirmed, more players are expected to follow.

While this includes players who are on loan at the moment, namely Clement Lenglet, Samuel Umtiti, and Nico Gonzalez among others, others such as Ferran Torres, Ansu Fati, and Franck Kessie are expected to be sacrificed too.

Romero had reported on Wednesday that Alba and Busquets will not be the only departures that will be announced this weekend when Barcelona play their final home game of the season against Mallorca.

It had sparked rumours about whether Roberto, too, could follow his fellow captains out of the club. But, the journalist clarifies that it will not be the case and the third player who will leave Barça will not be the versatile right-back.

It puts the trio of Kessie, Fati, and Torres in the crosshairs.

Kessie, on his part, is almost certain to leave as it has been made evident that breaking into the first team, even in the upcoming season, will be impossible for the Ivory Coast international. Given the situation at hand, Inter Milan are keeping tabs on his availability.

Similarly, with Torres, he is linked with a move back to the Premier League and so is Ansu Fati.

The aforementioned trio have gradually lost prominence, and considering the transfer targets, they will be further pushed down the card in the next season. Hence, the best option for everyone involved would be to part ways.

As far as Roberto is concerned, it is understood that he has the trust of his manager and like the previous summer, Xavi wants him to continue mostly because he would have a senior figure at the club, especially after the departures of Busquets and Alba.