Rafinha 'weighs up his options as he waits on contract renewal offer'

After months of uncertainty regarding his future at the Camp Nou, Rafinha Alcantara is beginning to weigh up his options as he continues to wait for a contract offer from Barcelona.

The midfielder wishes to leave the club in order to play regular football, which he knows won't happen under Ernesto Valverde's tutelage in Catalonia, simply because of the vast amount of competition for places in midfield.

However, he has not yet found a club where he would be happy moving to, and the best placed team at this moment are Valencia.

At the beginning of the summer transfer window, Los Che were on the cusp of reaching an agreement with the defending LaLiga Santander champions, only for Peter Lim to put a stop to the deal over concerns about the Brazilian's injury record.

Lim didn't want to pay a permanent transfer fee for a player he deemed to be injury prone, and a loan wasn't something which was of particular interest to Josep Maria Bartomeu.

This is due to the fact his contract ends in June 2020, and a loan deal would leave the possibility of a club being able to sign him nothing after January.

Los Cules will offer Rafinha a contract extension in order to protect his value, thus allowing them to loan him out for the 2019/20 season and not need to agonise over the possibility of losing the player for no fee.

This would also allow Valencia to make a move for the player without the risk of spending any considerable money, and there is even the option to include a purchase option in any potential loan agreement.

A huge disagreement between Lim and the duo of Marcelino and Mateu Alemany has threatened to derail all the progress made at Mestalla since the Spanish coach's arrival, and there aren't any guarantees that the trio will be able to come to an agreement on whether or not to sign Rafinha after all.

All three are still yet to agree on major functions at the club, and with just ten days to go in the summer window, Barcelona may well be playing a dangerous game in hoping Rafinha signs for Los Che.

The player believed the time was right to finally leave Barcelona permanently. He wants to play 40 games a season and knows that it simply won't happen for him with the Catalan giants.

He sees Valencia as his first option, but as time progresses it may be worth his while not to rule anyone else out.