Barcelona and Dutch legend Johan Cruyff believes want-away winger Pedro is of a lot of value to Barcelona, and with him being a product of La Masia, should not be sold.
Pedro has seen himself fall down the pecking order at Barcelona, with the arrival of mercurial striker Luis Suarez, who alongside Messi and Neymar were part of the famous trio ‘MSN’, which was instrumental in Barcelona’s treble winning campaign last season. But, with the arrival of Atletico Madrid star Arda Turan, the 27-year-old’s future is almost certainly over with the Catalan Giants.
Pedro had earlier admitted that the Blaugrana had agreed to lower his buy-out clause, with Chelsea FC, Arsenal FC and Liverpool FC believed to be his prime-suitors. Earlier reports coming from Spain had stated, that Liverpool had agreed to match his A?20.9 million release clause.
Cruyff believes Barcelona have become a club who only buy
Cruyff who was instrumental in setting up ‘La Masia’, believes that Pedro, a La Masia graduate, is integral to Barcelona’s success, with his hard work aiding the team. The legendary forward, has also taken a dig at former club, Barcelona, for not promoting enough youth players from the famous ‘La Masia’ and becoming a club, which only buys.
Cruyff in a recent interview said: “He has always been in difficult moments, but if you see the goals that he scores, he’s a guy who works so hard and for that reason he has a lot of value to Barcelona.
. “In addition, he came through with Guardiola and he’s home-grown.
“Previously, many players were promoted from La Masia and if there was a need to sign, they would sign.
“Now they only buy. You’re either a club that creates or a club that buys.”
Pedro in search of Champions League football amidst Liverpool FC interest
The 27-year-old is looking to be plying his trade in a club, who are competing in Champions League, and that certainly dents Liverpool FC’s chances of signing him, while, Chelsea FC’s manager Jose Mourinho is not willing to pay the buy-out clause of the winger, and is hoping for a fee much below the clause. Liverpool FC, however, consider Pedro to be the replacement for the departed Raheem Sterling, who signed for Manchester City in a record A?49 million deal.
However, with Barcelona, currently in the middle of a transfer ban, they cannot register new players and as such, Arda Turan is ineligible to play for the club till 1st January. Thus, if Pedro indeed was sold, this would leave the already paper thin Barcelona squad, further short of numbers. If either of Messi, Neymar or Suarez were to get injured in this period, the Spanish Champions would be left heavily exposed.
Barcelona manager Luis Enrique has also reiterated that he wants the 27-year-old to stay, and with the transfer ban in place, the Catalan giants would look to hold on to the Spaniard till the end of the year, following which his replacement, Arda Turan could be registered to play for the club. Club president, Josep Bartomeu has however, fueled speculation that Turan might be allowed to leave on loan, till the end of the year, as he is ineligible for playing, this might help convince Pedro to stay at Catalunya for another six-months, in a bid to revive his career.