According to SPORT, Chelsea midfielder and icon, N’Golo Kante, is pushing Barcelona to agree a pre-contract agreement in January itself as he does not wish to delay a decision on his future for much longer.
Kante is in the final year of his contract with Chelsea and a renewal with the club where he has won everything in the last six years seems unlikely. The Blues are looking to freshen things up in their midfield department and given Kante’s recent fitness troubles, they could be ready to move on.
Kante, for his part, is seemingly planning for life after Chelsea, with Barcelona emerging as a possible destination for the Frenchman.
The Blaugrana are in the market for a pivot midfielder as they look to prepare for life after Sergio Busquets, whose contract with the club runs out in the summer.
Xavi Hernandez and the coaching staff wish to sign Martin Zubimendi of Real Sociedad to take over from Busquets. But the Spaniard’s €60 million valuation is making things complicated given the club’s poor financial situation
As such, Barça are looking at free transfer opportunities in the market and have identified Kante as one possible option. Talks are ongoing with the 2018 FIFA World Cup winner’s camp, who seems to be open to the idea of joining the Catalans.
However, as per the report, Kante wants to decide on his future at the earliest possible and is pushing Barcelona to finalise a pre-contract agreement over a free transfer.
This is primarily because he is getting important offers from elsewhere and does not want to turn them down and then end up missing out on Barcelona as well, considering that they are still not 100% decided on signing him as Xavi continues to insist on Zubimendi.
So, it remains to be seen how things advance on this front as Kante looks to secure a deal with Barcelona, who wish to keep their options open.