Rakitic has since proven to be one of the decade’s deals at the Camp Nou as he helped the club win 13 major trophies, including four league titles and the Champions League.
Signing Rakitic is almost impossible in this summer
Sevilla’s signing Ivan Rakitic from Barcelona this summer is almost impossible, the club’s sporting director Monchi said. After Rakitic became one of the most consistent LaLiga performers at Sevilla between 2010 and 2014, Rakitic was hacked by Barça for £16m. Rakitic has since proven to be one of the decade’s deals at the Camp Nou as he helped the club win 13 major trophies, including four league titles and the Champions League. Rakitic contributed 35 goals and 42 assists in 310 appearances for Barça, but he fell in a team biting order in 2019-20 with only one year left to run on his current contract. In the absence of signs of an upcoming extension, it has been speculated that the Croatia international will move to new pastures in the summer transfer window, with a possible return to Sevilla for an experienced midfielder.
Ivan is a Monchi’s friend
Rakitic insisted that he remains happy with his current entourage after returning from prison in June. He also admitted that he would like some “clarity” over his future at Camp Nou. While Monchi believes the former Sevilla talisman will be open to repeating his moves, he cannot see the deal materialize in the current financial climate. “Ivan is a player who, from what he says, would like to return to Sevilla today, tomorrow or in two years,” Monchi told reporters. That I personally like him to return? Would I want it to work out for him to come back? I do not hide the fact that he is my friend. At the moment, it looks difficult to me, if not impossible. It’s so tricky economically that I can’t see it. We always do our planning in secret.”
Rakitic played a full 90 minutes of Barça’s last outing against Napoli in the Champions League, putting on a strong performance to help Quique Setien’s squad reach the quarterfinals 4-2 aggregate. Goals from Clement Lenglet, Lionel Messi, and Luis Suarez gave the Blaugrana a 3-1 victory in the round of 16 second-leg tie at Camp Nou. So they are now looking forward to a substantial last-eight meeting with Bayern Munich on Friday.