Rakitic to sign renewal after Suarez

Now that the new contracts of Sergio Busquets, Javier Mascherano and Neymar are sealed, Barcelona are working to arrange, in this order, those of Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Sergi Roberto and Lionel Messi.
The Uruguayan striker is very close to signing until 2021 or 2022 and he will increase his annual salary up to 25 million euros gross - but he will not be the only one.
It is the intention of the club to also to accelerate the renewal of Rakitic, who signed for the Catalans in the same summer as Suarez and, although not among the finalists of the Ballon d'Or and The Best, has a similar importance as the Uruguayan in the plans of Luis Enrique.
"Improving the squad we have is very difficult, if not impossible," sporting director Robert Fernandez recently noted.
"We are looking for young and easy-to-fit players, but the priority is to keep the team's core."
The Croatian midfielder is the player who has played the most matches since Enrique has been coach.
His contribution is in solidarity with Busquets and he interprets the movements of Leo Messi on the right wing like no one else in the team.
Barcelona cannot contemplate a team without him.
Eight million gross
When leaving Sevilla, Rakitic signed a contract in 2014 until 2019 in exchange for 8m euros gross per season.
He practically doubled the salary he had when he was an idol in Andalusia.
Now, the intention of his representative, Arturo Canales, is to place him between the 10m of Jordi Alba and the 14m of Busquets.