Valverde spoke about the central midfielder during his press conference ahead of the match against Rayo Vallecano.
It appears as if FC Barcelona and Ivan Rakitic are going to have to reach some sort of conclusion soon. In Ernesto Valverde's press conference ahead of Rayo Vallecano, the coach once again spoke his midfielder.
"I'm not thinking about whether Rakitic is here or not next season. Not him, or anybody else." The midfielder is one of the most used by Valverde and he was key in the last El Clasico against Real Madrid.
Rakitic, for his part, has said that he wants to remain at the club. However the player clearly wants a new contract to demonstrate his importance to the side, similar to the one recently handed out to Jordi Alba.
Bartomeu tried to cool talk over a new deal by saying he was still under contract and that if the club hadn't spoken to him it was because they wanted to sort out Alba's future.