"I see myself at Barcelona for many more years" - Star player rules out Camp Nou exit
Barcelona midfielder Franck Kessie has ruled out a possible summer move from the club. The Ivory Coast international joined the Blaugrana from AC Milan in the last summer transfer window on a free deal.
After a tough start to life at Barcelona, Kessie was linked with a January move to the Premier League but he eventually stayed put. The midfielder has since grown in stature under manager Xavi and now looks set to stay at the club beyond this summer.
He recently stated that he sees himself playing for the Catalan giants for 'many more years' and also claimed that manager Xavi trusts his capabilities.
"I see myself at Barcelona for many more years. I'm in super top club, I'm happy here and I want to give my best. Xavi trusts me a lot, Yaya Touré already told me he's a great person," he told Mundo Deportivo.
#FCB
Franck Kessié: "I see myself at Barcelona for many more years. I'm in super top club, I'm happy here and I want to give my best", told Mundo Deportivo 🔵🔴 #FCB
"Xavi trusts me a lot, Yaya Touré already told me he's a great person". https://t.co/WTZynxo5VE
Kessie has so far made 30 appearances for the Spanish giants, also scoring two and assisting three goals. He has helped the side climb to the top of the La Liga table and still has over three years left on his current contract with the club.
Barcelona could face transfer ban this summer
La Liga chief Javier Tebas recently claimed that Barcelona will not be allowed to sign players this summer if they don't offload a few of their stars.
“As of today, Barcelona doesn’t have any room in its budget to spend in the upcoming transfer window,” Tebas said at the Financial Times’ Business of Football summit.
He added:
“Barcelona has been involved in questionable behavior which has had an impact on La Liga and we are acting accordingly. We have ruled that they can no longer sign more players.
“They sold off £620m (€700m) in TV rights and tried to find different ways to solve the situation but they won’t be able to do that next season. We have strict economic controls. At the end of each window, we tell all the clubs in La Liga what they can spend.
“In the case of Barcelona, they have to drop from spending on wages and transfers from £532m to £399m (€650m to €450m), so it’s a budget of minus £177m (€200m).
“They have to reduce their investment in players and we have encouraged them to sell players because, for every amount they raise in sales, they can spend 40 per cent of that.”
With the Blaugrana staring at a transfer ban, they might want to hold on to their top players and Kessie could be one of them.