Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu has revealed Dani Alves wants to stay at Camp Nou as contract talks go on.
Bartomeu has been interviewed by Esport 3 and touched on a number of topics, including Pep Guardiola’s return to Catalonia with Bayern Munich and the future of Luis Enrique.
He also offered an update on the future of Alves amid prolonged speculation over the right-back’s future, with his current deal expiring this summer.
“I hope to renew Alves. We’re in talks,” Bartomeu said, AS reports.
“He’s been an important player for many years. He’s won many trophies and he shows he wants to continue in a spectacular way. I hope there’s an agreement.
“I won’t go into the negotiations but he wants to stay and that’s what we want.
Bartomeu also discussed Luis Suarez, Xavi Hernandez and Lionel Messi’s supposed gesture to allow Neymar to score a hat-trick against Cordoba, handing over penalty duties to the Brazilian.
“There are two gestures, the first in which Neymar allows him to score, and then the gesture of the penalty,” Bartomeu pointed out.
“This shows freshness, a good atmosphere and positive note off the field. They are great friends.
“Suarez? He wasn’t my signing, but the signing of everyone. He was a player we needed and we’re excited by his hat-trick [against Cordoba]. He is a great person who brings a lot.
“Xavi is a legend of Barca. He’s won everything and can maybe keep winning. He’s earned the right to decide his future. He has all of our respect and admiration.”
Bartomeu also confirmed the club’s interest in Paul Pogba and gave his thoughts on the FIFA transfer embargo – both as it affects Barca and the chances of more clubs being sanctioned.
“We like Pogba like all teams in Europe do. We’re thinking about January 2016,” he went on.
“I don’t see a problem in the technical team working in advance of then if they ask to.
“I knew FIFA were investigating other teams because what we did, so did other teams, but I don’t know the details. I’m not aware of any amnesty.”
