It was up to him whether to leave or not . Would have got a better contract at Psg .
Rakitic on the matter:
"I listened to my wife and my heart and I realised that I'm very privileged to wear Barcelona's shirt," Rakitic told Sport."To defend this badge is the greatest honour."There isn't a team in the world who could give me more, unless it's money."
Listen. This guy is steadily moving up the Barca Greats/Legends ladder. He has a great attitude, professional and loyal and he gives his all every time he enters the pitch.
We as fans are (mostly) a sorry bunch; entitled, pessimistic and with the memory of a goldfish. We demand trophies every season. We demand the highest form of football. We demand continuity. Don't get me wrong, Barca is one of the best clubs in the world at the moment and we need to maintain our edge on every parameter, not letting complacency fester from the board down to the grasskeepers.
However, for those of us that remember the tumultuous times of Gaspart, the white handkerchiefs during Van Gaals second spell (the home game against Valencia, where Mendieta broke us in half is still fresh in my memory) and the entire shift during the Laporta administration, recognizes the strides this club has taken in every aspect of the game; we are currently top 3 on a yearly basis fiscally alongside Manchester United and Real Madrid - We were not even top 10 in 2005. La Masia produced a golden generation of gems unrivaled at any club in recent memory (Milans and Bayerns mid to late 80s team and Uniteds 90s team are close contenders).
We keep comparing our current performances and players to the bar set during the perhaps most successful period a club has achieved since the days of Reals Di Stefano era. If we are truly to measure the current structure of our club as a whole, we need to be true to the broader narrative. Valverde is a pragmatic coach with undeniable flaws, especially in his lack of true courage when it matters the most; I absolutely agree with this perspective. But he is also a coach who won us the Double in his first tenure after a horror show last summer. Neymars lamentable departure, the beating we took during the Super Cup and the overall sentiment throughout the footballing world that this was the beginning of the end, the symptoms of a slow but sure death of a giant.
Valverde came through. We need to move past the Roma game, as much as it still hurts. We need to establish a genuine support for the club, the manager, the board, the sporting directors and lastly the players. And in this category, to get back to the topic, Rakitic is at the moment one of our most influential players. He is an established quality midfielder who chose Barca over the prospect of easy trophies and bigger money. He has shown loyalty to the club and I don't doubt for a second an contract renewal would be on the table had he been catalan/La Masia product.
We desperately need an reality check and an adjustment of our expectations. I regularly ignore/scroll past comments the likes of 'Messi needs to be sold', 'Rakitic is the King of backpasses' or 'Dembélé is not good enough and never will be'. But we need to address the greater narrative. We have, on paper, one of the best teams in the world currently. I only see a handful of clubs on that level, Man City, Atletico, Juventus and perhaps PSG and Liverpool. We are contenders for both domestic and European trophies this year, but we need to be positive about our buildup and establish genuine faith in the coach and the players once again.
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