Last meeting to seal Busquets renewal coming up

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that the renewal of Barcelona midfielder and Spanish youth international Sergio Busquets (20) will be closed soon.

Busquets, whose current contract expires at the end of the season, will sign a renewal that will link him to the club for the next five seasons.

A deal has principally been agreed upon (read more here) and now Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain and Josep Maria Orobitg, the agent of the player, will meet a last time to sort out the remaining details and to approve the final version of the contract. The renewal will probably be finalized before the end of this month.

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Busquets will sign a five-year contract that has a rather low fixed salary and high incentives based on criteria like the number of matches played.

A new meeting between both parties could be scheduled for next week. Asked about the progress made, Josep Maria Orobitg is quoted by the paper as saying an agreement is imminent: "We're close. With one meeting or two, we could wind it up."

British tabloid The Daily Mail meanwhile claims that English Premier League club Arsenal is ready to make a move for Busquets if the player would still fail to agree a new contract at Barcelona.

After seeing Mathieu Flamini and Alexander Hleb leave his club during the summer, Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger is keen to strengthen his midfield and wouldn't doubt if given the chance to sign the Catalan midfielder, who has attracted the interest from several clubs in England and Italy (read more here).

Read more:

Principal agreement on Busquets renewal

Milan offers Busquets twice as much as Barcelona

Busquets rejects renewal offer