Ivan Rakitić: “I want to be here, and if possible, renew and be here longer”

The Croatian wants to stay at Barcelona

Ivan Rakitić was the winner of the Repsol Extraordinary Trophy along with Samuel Umtiti for his FIFA World Cup performance at the Mundo Deportivo Gala awards, where he had a chance to speak to the media.

Amid reports that the midfielder is on his way out of the club, Rakitić repeated his desire to stay at Barca: “I want to be here, and if I can renew, be here for a few more years. I’m very happy here, everyone knows it, most of all the president. I don’t have to say anything else.”

He was asked if the signing of Frenkie de Jong would change his role at the club. “That is a good question for the coach or for the president. The people who know me know that I am only here to play. I approach it with calmness and a lot of desire. I am 30 years old, and I am in the best moment of my career. I want to enjoy football and Barça.“

Finally, the Croatian spoke about Barcelona’s upcoming Copa del Rey clash against Sevilla, where the blaugrana trail 0-2 from the first leg: “We want to win. We know that it’s going to be very complicated after the result in Sevilla. It will be very special playing against ‘my guys,’ to say it a certain way, but we already came back in the tie against Levante, and we want to do the same now to stay in the cup.”