Pique agrees new Barcelona deal as Chelsea, Manchester City & United approaches are rebuffed

The 26-year-old will put pen to paper on a €7 million-a-year contract extension at Camp Nou, tying him to the club until 2018, despite interest from the Premier League and Serie A

EXCLUSIVE
By Duncan Castles 

Gerard Pique has agreed to sign a new contract at Barcelona after approaches from Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United were all rebuffed, Goal can reveal.

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By Ben Hayward in Barcelona Gerard Pique has been below his best for some time now and the defender’s poor performances proved a cause for concern at Camp Nou, but the Spain centre-back has regained some of his sharpness in recent weeks and his impeccable display at Atletico Madrid on Saturday night was his finest in recent memory. Pique is out of contract in 2015 and Barca, having recently renewed Andres Iniesta's terms, have now switched their attentions to the defence. The Catalans are close to signing German goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen as a replacement for Victor Valdes, who will leave in the summer, and are also in talks with both Marc Bartra and Martin Montoya over new deals - with both players out of contract in June. With captain Carles Puyol reaching the twilight of his career, Barca see Pique as their defensive lynchpin for years to come and also a possible skipper to succeed his veteran central-defensive partner in the future.

The 26-year-old, whose existing deal was due to enter its final season this summer, was also approached by Serie A champions Juventus but has committed his future to the Camp Nou giants. 

Barcelona have offered to pay the defender €7 million-a-year after tax to reflect his status as a firs choice for both the Spanish champions and his national team. 

The Premier League trio all made informal approaches to gauge whether Pique could be tempted back to England, after he left Old Trafford for Catalunya in 2009, but received indications that he would not consider a move away from Barca. 

"No club in the world had a single chance," a close friend told Goal. "Gerard belongs to Barcelona."

The terms of the new contract - one of the most generous ever awarded to a defender - are also the product of internal pressure to improve the salaries of Barca's key players caused by Neymar's hugely expensive acquisition from Santos.

Though Neymar's personal terms were structured in a fashion that Barca could present his base salary as €7m net, other payments to the Brazilian and his family inflated his effective earnings well beyond that sum.

In June, Barcelona vice-president Josep Maria Bartomeu announced that the club had paid €57m [£48m] to Santos, and three companies - DIS Esporte, Terceira Estrela Investimentos and N&N - for Neymar. The forward's father owns N&N, which is understood to have received €40m [£33m] of that outlay. Barca had already spent €10m [£8.3m] in December 2011 to acquire a first option on Neymar's transfer from Brazil.

The transaction has proved so controversial that it is currently under investigation by the Spanish state. "The prosecutor’s decision puts in doubt an impeccable business operation that has allowed FCB to obtain, for €57m, a player who is the envy of all our competitors," said Barcelona in a statement.