Celta president: "Nolito will leave this year"

The Celta president, Carlos Mouriño, firmly believes that Nolito will leave the Galician club before the new season. "He will go this year", he has said, in comments reported by the Mexican website Reporte Jalisco. A phrase that distances the player from Balaidos for the 2016/17 season, and perhaps nears him to Camp Nou.

Mouriño, who had travelled to Mexico to open Celta's Guadalajara centre for high performance, stated: "I think Nolito will leave Celta this year", and in the case this is confirmed "we would lose an individual who would be very hard to replace, but with 18 million euros, an amount of money we have never had, we would strengthen the team."

Referring to the figures involved in any deal, the president explained: "There are no numbers here. The contract of Nolito has a buy-out clause of 18 million euros. Whoever pays that can take him, whether we like it or not. There is not even any negotiation."

Those 18 million euros have already been described by Gerard Pique as "a steal".

Mouriño has assured that "as a club, we are not going to sell him for less than the 18 million euros that are stipulated in his contract. If somebody pays it, obviously we have to allow him to go."

He also confirmed that Barça's interest in the last winter transfer window was "very real" and that "yes, they wanted him." However he added "there was no agreement".

Meanwhile the player has not shut any doors in his declarations with the Spanish squad at Euro 2016.