Barcelona and Luis Enrique put contract talks on hold
Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has told Catalunya Radio that current head coach Luis Enrique will not talk about a new contract with the club until after Christmas at the earliest.
While discussing the current squad and any potential contractual issues surrounding them, Bartomeu said Luis Enrique wasn’t willing to talk about such issues until the end of the season, when his current deal expires. However, Bartomeu added:
We will not discuss Luis Enrique’s renewal now or at Christmas. The right time will be in February or March as he said that he didn’t want to talk about it until the end of the season.
So far, Luis Enrique has enjoyed an immensely successful two years with the Catalan club since joining from Celta. He’s so far won eight out of a possible 10 trophies available to him, while also achieving 100 wins as Barcelona manager in less time than any other manager, needing just 126 games to do so.
In the interview, the club president also discussed contract renewals for key players such as Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Ivan Rakitic. Suarez and Rakitic have deals running through until 2019, while Messi’s runs out in 2018. Bartomeu had this to say on the three players:
We will speak to Messi just as we will talk to Suarez and Rakitic. We will do so in the next few months because we want them to renew their contracts.
Leo is the world number one. Leo is very strong, he is a winner and he has come back better than ever. He is looking forward to making the fans happy.