Claudio Bravo has no intention of leaving Barcelona. The Chilean goalkeeper has been linked with a departure this summer, with Manchester City and Pep Guardiola monitoring his situation, but the 33-year-old wants to stay at Camp Nou.
Bravo moved to Barca from Real Sociedad two years ago and has been competing with Marc-Andre ter Stegen for the number one spot at the Catalan club ever since, with neither of the two particularly happy with their situation last season.
That has led to talk of a move for one of the two, but Bravo is keen to stay put. Sources close to the player told Goal: "He is thrilled to be keeping goal for the best team in the world and all he is thinking about is fulfilling the two years left on his contract."
Since moving to Barca, Bravo is the most successful player in his entire squad because, on top of the titles he has won with the Blaugrana, he has added back-to-back Copa America crowns with Chile. He is one of the world's best goalkeepers and Barcelona would only consider letting him leave for a huge fee.
The Chilean was signed after Victor Valdes deciced to move on. Andoni Zubizarreta earmarked Bravo and Ter Stegen as successors to the Catalan shot-stopper and both men have been successful so far at Camp Nou.
Zubizarreta was clear that Ter Stegen represented the future and the German goalkeeper is now pushing to start in all competitions, a situation that could make life difficult for coach Luis Enrique in 2016-17. The Barca boss knows he has two top-class keepers - and he wants to keep them both.
Publicly, Barca cannot admit that one or the other could be sold. That would lower the price of both and could affect the club's remaining business in the transfer market this summer, with a support striker still to be brought in as back-up for Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez. And the Blaugrana would want somewhere in the region of €30m if either were allowed to move on.
Which one though? That's the big question, but with Bravo aged 33 and Ter Stegen aged 24, the logical choice would be to bet on the German. And the fact that the Chilean halted his own renewal talks at the beginning of the summer could also indicate that the club are backing his team-mate.
Both Bravo and Ter Stegen are on holiday at the moment and they have remained quiet. A year ago, the German returned early from his holidays to try and claim the starting spot from the Chilean, although that coincided with a poor start of the season as nine goals were conceded in the first two matches.
This time it will be the Chilean who is back sooner. He returns on August 1, a week before the German, with the two men well aware that they are now in a definitive fight for the starting spot at Camp Nou. And one thing is for certain: whoever starts the season against Betis at Camp Nou on August 20 will have a significant advantage.
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- Goal