Iniesta contradicts Bartomeu: No deal in place for his contract extension
The midfielder arrived back in Barcelona from international and denied that there is an initial agreement for a new contract as the president said yesterday.
Barça president Josep María Bartomeu has been left with egg on his face once again after seeing Andrés Iniesta contradict his comments on handing the midfielder a contract extension. Bartomeu told Catalan daily El Mundo Deportivo yesterday: "We have the basis of a deal to renew and we hope to seal it in the coming weeks. The idea is that he has an indefinite contract which renews automatically year on year until he thinks he wants to retire or change."
Unsettling week in store for Bartomeu
However, Iniesta, who returned to Barcelona today following international duty with Spain, says he knows nothing about any agreement with the club regarding his contract. On arrival at El Prat airport, Iniesta was asked: “Have you reached an initial agreement with the club to renew your contract?”. To which the player replied simply: “No”.
It means there is going to be more questions to be answered for the president in which promises to be another unsettling week ahead of Saturday's derby against Espanyol.
Barcelona know that Iniesta is waiting for the club to make the first move to speed up the operation and put an end to a situation which has now become a source of irritation for both sides. The idea is to offer the player a year-on-year deal as AS reported a short while back. However, according to Cadena SER, Iniesta wants Barça to remove a clause which obliges him to play a minimum of 60% of the team's games and also to receive a renewal bonus, in the same way his team mates have when they have secured contract extensions.
