Gini Wijnaldum has failed to completely rule out a future move to Barcelona, despite staying put at Liverpool for the time being.
The Dutchman was continually linked with the La Liga giants during the summer, but a move never ended up materialising.
Speaking to the press during international duty with the Netherlands, Wijnaldum admitted he couldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t move to Barca eventually:
There was nothing concrete, I didn’t have to think about it. I will stay on [with Liverpool] it looks like now. My contract will run for another 10 months.
It can of course change in the coming months, you never know in football. So we will see.
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I expect Wijnaldum to leave Liverpool at the end of the season, at which point his contract at Anfield will have expired.
He will be 30 years of age by then, so it is unlikely that the Reds would offer him a new long-term deal, allowing him a fresh challenge.
If this is to be Wijnaldum’s last season in a Reds shirt, he deserves to be remembered as a club legend.
He may not make the headlines in the same way that so many of his teammates do, but he is a vital cog in the machine.
The 29-year-old’s selflessness in midfield, not to mention his expert positional sense and ball retention – he has an 89.5 percent pass completion rate this season – have been a huge part of Liverpool’s success under Jurgen Klopp.
He also famously scored twice against Barca in the legendary Champions League semi-final in 2018/19, so he has a knack for big-game brilliance, too.
With James Milner also potentially moving when the campaign concludes, considering he will be 35, there could be a changing of the guard in midfield, with the likes of Naby Keita and Curtis Jones really looking to nail down regular starting spots for years to come.
