FC Barcelona forward Pedro Rodriguez has ended speculation of a potential transfer to Arsenal, Chelsea, or Liverpool by penning a new contract until 2019.
Pedro had only one year remaining before his contract expired and Chelsea, alongwith Arsenal and Liverpool were keen to secure his services.
Following the contract extension, Pedro buyout clause will remain at 150 million euros.
Chelsea have been hunting for a replacement for flop Juan Cuadrado who is likely to move back to Italy with Griezmann and Pedro heavily linked. Since then, Mourinho has come out and said that the London side are not interested in Griezmann and Pedro has signed a new deal. It remains to be seen if Chelsea will considering the sale of Cuadrado or not.
Liverpool were also hoping to get a cut price deal done for the Spanish International to replace their want away winger Raheem Sterling as Arsenal mooted a replacement for Theo Walcott whose contract extension still looks far from a done deal with only a year left.
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Pedro extends FC Barcelona contract until 30 June 2019 http://t.co/zWS7PL5dZd pic.twitter.com/gil2srkOqO
a FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) June 4, 2015
Pedro had scored 11 goals despite losing the place to Neymar Jr. but has decided to stay and fight for his place than seek regular football with either of the English sides.
Comparison among the players of the possible outgoing wingers of Chelsea, Liverpool, and Arsenal show just why the Barcelona man was so sought after. Pedro’s pace and dribbling ability ensured he topped the ‘Successful Take Ons’ and ‘Assists’ attributes and second only to Sterling in the ‘Chance creation’ attribute. With a potential transfer fee of under 10mn pound, Pedro would have been an absolute steal for any of the three side and would have seamlessly fitted into their plans. One wonders why exactly did he want to warm the bench at Barcelona given the form of Suarez, Neymar, and Messi he will only get a look in should anyone either needs a rest or suffers an injury.