Barcelona defender Gerard Pique appears desperate for his club not to sell teammate Pedro to Manchester United this summer.
The future of the Spanish winger has been hot topic in the media over the past couple of weeks following Barca’s acquisition of Arda Turan from La Liga rivals Atletico Madrid [via Guardian Sport].
Despite the Turkey international being unable to be registered until January 2016, it appears first-team football for Pedro in the upcoming season will be limited as a result of the Turk’s arrival. With the European Championships on the horizon, Pedro can ill-afford not to be playing regularly, if so, his place in the Spain squad could be under threat.
Pedro was forced to play second fiddle to the brilliant attacking trio of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez for large spells of last season, but was still able to weigh in with a number of vital goals, including one against Real Sociedad which left the Catalan giants on the brink of clinching the title.
At one point in the summer it appeared as though an exit from the Camp Nou was out of the question for the 27-year-old as he put pen-to-paper on a new deal [via Guardian Sport], however, interest from a number of Premier League clubs including United, Chelsea and Liverpool quickly followed news that his buyout clause had been reduced to £22 million [via Guardian Sport].
The Red Devils appear to be in the driving seat for Pedro’s signature after reportedly agreeing a fee with Barcelona [via Metro Sport] and Pique says he doesn’t want to see his compatriot leave this summer:
“Pedro’s situation is very difficult because he has the three best attackers in the world – Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar – ahead of him,” the former United defender said [via Mirror Sport].
“But if Pedro leaves Barca, our squad will be weakened,” Pique was added.
Pedro was named in the Barca’s starting XI for the pre-season friendly against United at the weekend, but was unable to prevent his current club from losing 3-1 as goals from Wayne Rooney, Jesse Lingard and Adnan Januzaj gave the 20-time champions of England an impressive victory over the reigning treble winners.