Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde says talks over a contract extension at the club will be conducted later in the season amid speculation he could leave the club at the end of this campaign.
The Spaniard’s original contract is for two years, with an option to extend by another year. That deal will run out at the end of the season, and so far no decision over the extension has been taken.
However, speaking ahead of the La Liga leaders’ trip to Getafe on Sunday, Valverde said simply that he and the club will “discuss it later”.
“It is true the contract was for two years plus one and at the end of the season it is necessary to decide,” Valverde said on Saturday.
“We will discuss it later, we are not even halfway through the season. There has always been a good relationship. If you lose one game, you are in trouble here but I have a contract with Barca.”
Barcelona currently hold a three-point lead atop the league table, ahead of second-placed Atletico Madrid, and are looking to win the league for the second season running.
However, Valverde knows his spell will be judged on European success, especially after the way his team threw away a three-goal advantage in last year’s Champions League quarter-finals against Roma.
Barcelona last won Europe’s biggest club trophy in 2015, with arch-rivals Real Madrid winning it every year since, a run of three consecutive titles that had never been done before in the modern era. That spell of success has stung at the Camp Nou, with regaining the Champions League trophy now bordering on an obsession.
Madrid are enduring a transition season this year and will struggle to make it four in a row, but Valverde is not taking Barcelona’s fiercest rivals lightly, even saying that Los Blancos are title rivals despite being seven points behind.
“We still consider Madrid a candidate for the title,” said the Barcelona manager. “Sometimes the gaps seem great but they are not so much, just two and a half games, and we see them as one of our rivals.”
“This year La Liga is tighter, everything is more compressed. But always it is better if we are first.”
Meanwhile, Valverde revealed that defender Samuel Umtiti could resume training this month as he continues to recover from a knee injury that has restricted him to just eight appearances this season.
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“We think that in a couple of weeks he can start training again with the team, we’ll see how things are going,” Valverde said.
“I always try to be optimistic and I would like that to happen. I think he has positive feelings, let’s see.”
Barcelona are going through an injury crisis at the back, with Umtiti’s fellow centre-back Thomas Vermaelen having also missed most of the season, leaving Gerard Pique and Clement Lenglet as the only fit players for the position. La Blaugrana were forced to sign Jeison Murillo on loan from Valencia in order to shore up the defensive ranks, a move Valverde expects to pay off.
“Our idea was that Jeison would be available as soon as possible and he knows the league,” Valverde said. “He’s going to have to play and we hope to see the best of him,” he added.
Apart from Umtiti and Vermaelen, only midfielder Rafinha, who has a long-term injury, will miss Sunday’s game, with Sergi Roberto and Malcom available again after recovering from injuries of their own.
