Barcelona captain Sergi Roberto has stated that the club will have to kick him out in order to get rid of him. After 17 years in Blaugrana colours, Roberto joined when he was 14 years of age, he has no intention of leaving just a season after taking over the armband.
Asked what it means to him, and why he is motivated to continue at the club on the B3TTer podcast, Roberto explained that every day at the club is a dream come true for him.
“For me, Barcelona are everything, it’s something unique. I always used to say with my dad, ‘from Barcelona, you have to be kicked out’. I was always very clear that I wanted to be at Barcelona, being a Barcelona fan since I was young, and where else am I going to be as happy as here? I’ve seen other colleagues, who perhaps didn’t have the patience that I did, and they end up going elsewhere, but I was also very clear.”
However he did not close the door on the idea of playing elsewhere before the end of his career. Nevertheless, it wasn’t something he was considering currently.
“If I’m happy and the club are happy at the end of the season, I will continue. It’s a sort of about just going season by season, and seeing, so all of the news you see about me wanting to join a club, or Palmeiras, are not true.”
“It’s true that, and I’ve said this in the past, I would like to play in the American league, MLS. I think it’s an opportunity I would like at the end of my career, and maybe I would play for a year in Europe somewhere, but when I say this, these are things that I see as further down the line.”
Roberto, 31, was a starting right-back during two La Liga-winning seasons under Luis Enrique, but has struggled with injuries of late, seeing his importance decline. This season he has missed seven games through injury, and seen just 224 minutes of action. However Xavi Hernandez continues to praise his leaderhip and professionalism as an example for others, but with his contract up at the end of the season, it will be a conversation that has to be had in the coming months.
Roberto: "With Xavi as a coach I feel comfortable. I have his trust. At the end of the season, if the club is happy, I will continue."
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) December 12, 2023
