Barcelona could get fee for Motta renewal

Atlético Madrid midfielder and former Barcelona player Thiago Motta (25) announced at a press conference yesterday that he has reached a principal agreement with his club to renew for one more year, in which the Brazilian will only get paid if he plays: "We have talked and the renewal now only depends on a little issue with Barcelona."

Catalans sport paper Sport reports that Barcelona let youth product Motta leave for free last summer, but only under the condition that it would receive one million euro° if Motta's one-year contract with Atlético would be renewed in 2008 (note - last year it was generally believed that Atlético had paid one million euro for the transfer and that they had to pay another two million euro° in case of a renweal).

That fee now seems to be an obstacle for a renewal since Atlético does not want to pay it. And after some negative declarations of Motta in recent months about his time in Barcelona, directly attacking and accusing Barcelona president Joan Laporta and Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain, Barcelona would not be very willing to drop the fee.

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo nevertheless claims that Barcelona doesn't plan to play it hard and would already have decided not to demand the sum of 2 million euro.