Barcelona are close to reaching an agreement in their continue bid to sign Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta.
The 32-year old has been a top target for the Catalans, as they seek to reinforce the right-back area, and personal terms were agreed with the player weeks ago.
However, a stumbling block has been the automatic one year contract extension that was triggered at Stamford Bridge when Azpilicueta passed a minimum number of appearances last summer.
However, fresh talks have now taken place between all parties and Barcelona are now confident that Chelsea’s new owners are ready to sanction Azpilicueta’s departure.
An announcement could come as early as this weekend, with Barcelona keen to get the deal settled, so that he can join his new club for their pre-season tour of the USA.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.