(Football news) The Blaugrana have made an exceptional start to life under the tutelage of Hansi Flick, taking 24 points from their opening nine La Liga games of the season to sit at the top of the standings.
Real Madrid moved level on points with Barca by sinking Celta Vigo 2-1 on Saturday, but Flick’s side can re-establish their three-point lead by beating Sevilla in Sunday’s fixture.
Barcelona’s renewed dominance in the top tier of Spanish football has come in spite of their well-documented financial problems, but the Catalonians are in a better position than they were during the COVID-19 crisis, where players were asked to defer their wages.
Now, Laporta has revealed that contract extensions are being worked on for Frenkie de Jong, Pedri, and Ronald Araujo, all of whom could leave the club on free transfers in the summer of 2026 as things stand.
Barcelona “working” on De Jong, Pedri, and Araujo deals
“We are working on Araujo, De Jong, and Pedri’s new contracts,” Laporta said during an opening speech at Barcelona’s Ordinary General Assembly.
News of De Jong and Araujo’s possible extensions will come as a significant blow to Manchester United, who memorably pursued the former all throughout the summer of 2022 but were met with stiff resistance from the player himself.
The Red Devils’ interest in Erik ten Hag’s former protege is not thought to have waned since then, and they have been tipped to sign the ‘transformative’ Dutchman when the next summer window rolls around.
However, De Jong has repeatedly voiced his satisfaction with life at Barcelona, even though he has been bedevilled by injury problems over the past year, and La Blaugrana were allegedly growing suspicious of how long he was taking to recover from his afflictions.
De Jong has made just two appearances for Flick’s side in the current campaign, both of which came off the bench, but the former Ajax man is not thought to be open to a switch to Manchester while uncertainty lingers over Ten Hag’s future.
Araujo to snub Manchester United alongside De Jong?
De Jong is not the only member of the trio who could turn his nose up to Manchester United, as Manchester United are also rumoured to have been keeping tabs on Araujo amid the expectation that Jonny Evans, Victor Lindelof, and Harry Maguire will all leave next summer.
Barcelona have never been concerned about the prospect of losing the highly-rated Uruguayan, though, and the same can be said about Pedri, who has never been credibly linked with an exit from his boyhood team.
Like De Jong and Araujo, the former Golden Boy winner has been hampered by numerous fitness problems of his own but has made a positive start to 2024-25 with two goals and two assists in 11 appearances.
Pedri arrived at Barcelona from Las Palmas in a €23m (£19.2m) deal in 2019, and his current Barcelona deal, which he signed in 2021, includes a €1bn (£83m) release clause.
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