Barcelona is committed to signing Franck Kessié on a free transfer next summer. The Catalans have made an official five-year contract offer for 6.5 million euros net per season with the 25-year-old AC Milan midfielder, Fabrizio Romano knows. This means that Kessié’s arrival at the Camp Nou will probably be completed soon.
Joan Laporta already announced when he was appointed as president of Barcelona that there would be more possibilities at the club from the new season. Barça still had to use tricks in January to make the new signings fit within the salary limit of LaLiga, but will receive more space from 1 July, Laporta said earlier. Kessié previously showed that he was interested in a transfer-free switch to Barcelona and the skyrocketing contract offering will accelerate that.
AC Milan were eager to continue with Kessié, but have said they will not go beyond a salary of five million euros per season. Romano adds that the Italians are sticking to their position even after Barça’s offer. Milan took Kessié away from Atalanta in 2017, initially for a rental fee of 8 million euros and definitively a year later for a transfer fee of 24 million euros. Since then, the 52-time international of Ivory Coast has played 210 official matches for i Rossoneric and this season he is a permanent fixture in the team of coach Stefano Pioli, which is fully participating for the championship in the Serie A.
It was previously reported from Spain that Kessié is one of three targeted transfer-free reinforcements for Barcelona. César Azpilicueta and Andreas Christensen must also be brought to Catalonia after their Chelsea contracts expire. Sport wrote two weeks ago that Azpilicueta would even agree with Barcelona on a two-year contract with an option for an extra season. Several Spanish media reported on Wednesday that Barcelona also received a yes from Christensen.
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