Zubizarreta: Barcelona want Keita to stay

Jul 6, 2012 10:20:00 AM

The midfielder has been linked with a move to China but his current club still count on him and are keen for him to stay put at Camp Nou, according to the sporting director

Andoni Zubizarreta has stressed that Barcelona are not thinking about selling Seydou Keita this summer.

The midfielder, whose contract runs until June 2014, has recently been linked with a move away from the Blaugrana, but they are hopeful that Keita will instead commit his future to Catalunya.

"We’re talking about a player who we value enormously," Zubizarreta said at a press conference.

"We want him on the team. We’ve told him as much and we hope he says yes. Our desire is that he’ll be with us on the 16th [of July]."

The sporting director then went on to discuss Thiago Alcantara's fitness, and admits his absence from the Olympics due to injury is bad news for all parties concerned.

"The player has put in a lot of effort to go to the Olympics. Contact between the Barcelona doctors and the Spanish Olympic doctors has been ongoing," he continued.

"Unfortunately, Thiago has not fully recovered from his injury and cannot return to training. This is bad news for everybody.

"We’ll see what we can to do to ensure his return to the football pitch."

Spain have been paired with Japan, Honduras and Morocco in the tournament.

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