Celta Vigo President Carlos Mourino has confessed that midfielder Nolito is likely to leave the club this summer.
The 29-year-old Spain international was in tremendous form for the Galicians last season, scoring 12 goals in 29 La Liga appearances, and has been linked with a move to both Barcelona and Manchester City in recent weeks.
It is a situation Mourino believes will eventually result in his star player leaving Balaidos before the start of the 2016-17 campaign, as he told Mexican website ‘Reporte Jalisco’.
“I think he’ll leave Celta this year and we’d be losing an individual who would be very hard to replace,” lamented Mourino.
“However, with around €18m, an amount of money this club has never had, we’d be able to strengthen the team, although right now we haven’t spoken of any figures.
“As things stand, Nolito’s contract stipulates he has a buy-out clause of €18m and obviously if a club is prepared to pay it then we’d need to allow him to go. That is non-negotiable.
“Barcelona’s interest in him in the last transfer window was very real. Even so, despite them wanting him there was no agreement.”
