César Azpilicueta tells Barcelona to go away — report

The narrative of César Azpilicueta going to Barcelona this summer has taken a few hits in recent days, including stories of Chelsea asking for a combined €25m for Azpi and Marcos Alonso (which would be amusing especially in light of Barcelona’s continuing financial difficulties) and stories of Chelsea “blocking” the move, which would seem unlikely given our stance previous (i.e. we don’t want him to go but we won’t stand in his way unreasonably). But now comes perhaps the biggest body-blow yet, with Barcelona insider Gerard Romero claiming that Azpi himself has told Barca to go away.

Apparently, the Chelsea captain wanted clarification on his future before the start of the season, but seeing as how our first game is just about 48 hours away, time has simply run out for Barcelona. They had supposedly asked Azpi to wait a few more days for them to pull some more levers or whatever, but Dave’s done and has said so to Xavi.

Romero adds that Azpi’s apparently set for a 2-year contract extension at Chelsea to boot, which seems unlikely at this stage, but could certainly materialize (especially as a 1+1) later this season as it had in seasons past with the likes of Thiago Silva and Olivier Giroud.

With Azpi staying, Chelsea’s need to sign a right-sided defender this summer becomes a lot less necessary.