Pique pens new Barcelona deal with £441m buyout clause

Gerard Pique hopes to see out his playing days at Barcelona after signing a contract extension that ties him to the club until the summer of 2022.

The Spain international will be 35 when this contract extension expires and insists he only ever saw his future at the Nou Camp, saying it is ‘Barca or nothing’.

Pique’s new deal includes a buyout clause of £441.6m, but that is academic to a player who never wants to leave.

“I’m very happy to have renewed my contract and I hope it will not be the last,’ he said on Monday. ‘If I complete my contract I will have been at Barca for 14 years, plus another six or seven in the youth teams.

“I’ve been a socio (member) since I was born, Barca feels like home, it’s the club of my life. I always felt that I was going to stay and I never thought about anything else.

“And I hope to stay for life. Obviously I’ve thought about my family and my kids, who don’t want to move. But in the career I’ve had here, we’ve almost always won something and we’ve competed until the end.

“And I hope we continue being competitive until I retire.

“I’m not interested in playing for another team. If I wasn’t wearing the Barca shirt, I would have given up. I play football because I play for Barca. It’s Barca or nothing.”

Having come up through the youth ranks with Barcelona, Pique returned to his home-town club in 2008 after four years on Manchester United’s books and in the last decade has won 24 titles with the Catalan giants.

The former Barca youth player – who began his junior career in 1997, aged 10 – moved to Old Trafford in 2004 before spending time on loan at Real Zaragoza. He rejoined his boyhood club under Pep Guardiola in 2008.

At Barca he has scored 37 goals from 425 appearances and has won three Champions Leagues, six La Liga titles, five Copa del Reys, five Spanish Super Cups, three Club World Cups and two European Super Cups.

The defender also won the World Cup with Spain in 2010 and the European Championship in 2012.