FC Barcelona Will Negotiate Jordi Alba’s Exit After World Cup

FC Barcelona will begin negotiating Jordi Alba’s exit from the club in the coming weeks.

Currently mired in debts exceeding $1bn, the Blaugrana will need to rely on player exits in order to balance Financial Fair Play regulations and free up space on the wage bill so that they can sign new players in the next pair of transfer windows.

Gerard Pique announcing his retirement not even midway through the season was a huge victory for president Joan Laporta and his board in this respect, and attention will now turn to disposing of his fellow ‘sacred cow’ veteran Alba.

Alba currently has a contract which runs until 2024 and which is said to pay him around €15mn ($15.6mn) a year.

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By then he will be 35, but the left back has already shown signs of no longer belonging at the elite level when Barca have faced strong competition in the Champions League.

Before heading to Qatar, though, he told Mundo Deportivo that he wants to “continue performing, [and] stay and retire at Barca”.

At the same time, he also said that he will “be the first to raise my hand and leave” when he realises he can no longer put in the performances that Barca require of him.

According to the same newspaper, the Catalans seem to believe that day has already come. They want Alba to leave as soon as possible, and, rather than waiting until next summer, want to touch bases with the Spain international after the World Cup has finished in order to negotiate his exit.

Given the amount of time that Alba will have left on his contract, he won’t flee Camp Nou without a payoff – still the sum should be less than what it will cost to keep the ex-Valencia man around in Xavi Hernandez’s first team squad.