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Barcelona make transfer decision on Riqui Puig ahead of January

According to reputed journalist Fabrizio Romano, Barcelona have no plans of loaning out Riqui Puig during the January transfer window and they are instead planning to trigger the extension clause available on his contract.

Puig is regarded as one of the Blaugrana’s promising young graduates, but he has yet to make his mark under manager Ronald Koeman, who has hardly offered him playing time.

With the competition from the likes of Sergio Busquets, Frenkie de Jong, Miralem Pjanic in the central midfield, he has been left a frustrated figure on the bench and has managed just 78 minutes of first-team football.

Out of that, only four minutes have come in the Spanish top-flight and hence, it has been suggested that he could at least make a temporary switch away from the Blaugrana next month.

The likes of Arsenal and Leeds United have been credited with an interest in Puig, but Romano claims that the Catalan giants don’t plan to send the 21-year-old on loan at the turn of the year.

Puig’s current deal has a two-year extension clause inserted and the Blaugrana are prepared to trigger the option to keep him until June 2023 to avoid the prospect of losing him for free next summer.

As things stand, Puig seems unlikely to break into the starting lineup anytime soon, but he will be hoping for a change of fortunes during the second half of the campaign.

Otherwise, he could be on the move during next summer’s transfer window whereby the Blaugrana will have the opportunity to command a reasonable price with two years left on his contract.

Stats from Transfermarkt.com

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