Miralem Pjanic and Samuel Umtiti have rejected Barcelona's offers to terminate their contracts, according to Marca's reliable Luis Rojo.
Last week, the club approached the pair in open letters, explaining that "given the current financial situation of the club and the salary limit, we're giving the player the option to terminate their contract with the club and to leave".
As Rojo puts it, both players are still expected to leave the Catalans this summer, more likely on loan than permanently.
Umtiti and Pjanic are paid around €16m and €18m respectively and thus if Barca manage to loan them out, it'll reduce the club's wage bill by €35 for the forthcoming season - something the Blaugrana have to do to register Lionel Messi's new contract in compliance with La Liga's wage limit.
As a reminder, the Frenchman and the Bosnian are tied with Barca until 2023 and 2024 respectively.
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Barca offered to release Umtiti and Pjanic for free, players yet to accept (reliability: 5 stars)
The day that Barcelona terminated the contract of Matheus Fernandes, the club also offered Samuel Umtiti and Miralem Pjanic to release them for free by mutual consent, Mundo Deportivo's reliable Fernando Polo reports. Terminating their contracts would be too costly.
It's said that Umtiti refused the offer. His intention is to stay at Camp Nou and convince Ronald Koeman that he's worthy of a place in the squad.
Pjanic, meanwhile, is taking his time to respond. Before he would accept leaving for free, the midfielder wants to explore his options and see whether he can leave the normal way, the report claims.
Fernando Polo adds that Barca want to get the two players off their wage bill as the Catalans exceed the salary cap. This would also help with extending Leo Messi's contract. Besides, Ronald Koeman doesn't want to start the pre-season with players he doesn't count on for the next season.
If Sam and Miralem agree to terminate contracts by mutual consent, they won't get compensated by Blaugrana. But they would be able to ask for a signing bonus from their new clubs since they would be joining as free agents. So far, Umtiti has attracted the interest of Lyon and Marseille while Inter Milan, Juventus and PSG are said to be monitoring Pjanic's situation.
Barca tell Pjanic and Umtiti that Koeman doesn't count on them for next season (reliability: 5 stars)
Barcelona have informed Miralem Pjanic and Samuel Umtiti that they are not part of Ronald Koeman's plans for next season, Mundo Deportivo's very reliable Fernando Polo reports.
Moreover, it's not excluded that the coach will talk to Umtiti himself in order to convince the Frenchman to leave. The Catalans reportedly want to sell him but would also be open to loaning him out to get rid of his wages.
However, Barca have no plans of terminating his contract as they did with Matheus Fernandes.
As for Pjanic, previous reports claimed that Blaugrana would be open to loaning him out as well. The 30-year-old fancies a Juventus return, it's said, but could accept another destination too.
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