Villarreal fear they may lose star midfielder Dani Parejo to Barcelona this summer, with the latter looking for someone to construct play from the base of midfield. But it is not purely the pull of Barcelona that is attracting him to a move.
According to Relevo, Parejo’s relationship with the owners at Villarreal is fluid and on good ground. Yet Parejo forms a part of the dressing room that were not keen on the continuity of Quique Setien at the helm, and his relations with the former Barcelona manager are purely formal.
Parejo has a clause that would allow him to leave the Yellow Submarine for free this summer, despite having a year left on his deal. Els Groguets have offered Parejo a new deal, but he is keen to hang onto his €3.2m annual salary for the remaining year, which is more than he would receive with the new deal.
The loss of that significant salary would allow Villarreal to breathe a bit easier against the salary limit, although the loss in performance would hardly compensate for that.
Neither is Parejo willing to leave blindly. While he would like the opportunity to play for a club challenging for the title for the first time since leaving Real Madrid as a youngster, the 34-year-old does not want to become a bit-part player under Xavi Hernandez.
The Barcelona boss called Parejo on the 31st of January last winter to try and convince him to go to Barcelona, but Parejo did not want to leave Villarreal short. While his relations with Setien are not the best, he is still happy in Castellon.
However Parejo is hopeful of speaking to Xavi in order to find out his role, his salary, and length of contract – should they all meet his demands, he would happily move to Barcelona.
Barcelona have reportedly presented an offer of a one-year deal to Parejo, with an option of a further year. Yet Parejo is keen to see more commitment from Barcelona.
If Barcelona were to bring in Parejo, it would provide an interesting conundrum for Xavi in midfield. Parejo has rarely operated as a single pivot in recent years, and perhaps that necessitates the presence of Frenkie de Jong beside him. That in turn, would likely leave at least one of Ilkay Gundogan, Pedri or Gavi without a place in the starting XI.
