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Month-long negotiations with defender Eric Abidal for a new contract at "Barcelona" have finally ended successfully.
The veteran stays
On Monday late evening, the Catalan club officially confirmed that a three-year contract with the 32-year-old Frenchman will be signed following the "1+2" formula.
This means that the current player's contract is extended until the summer of 2013, and then annually reviewed and could be extended until June 30, 2015.
All formalities and the official contract signing ceremony at the "Barcelona" club headquarters are expected to take place later this week.
"Barcelona" acquired the experienced defender in 2007 from Lyon's "Olympique" team for 15 million euros. The footballer quickly gained the trust of the team's coaches and became one of the key players. With the Catalan club, the Frenchman became the Spanish champion three times, won the Champions League and Club World Cup twice, and once triumphed in the King's Cup tournament.
E. Abidal defended the honor of "Barcelona" in 177 official matches, scoring his only goal in the King's Cup match against Bilbao "Athletic".
The negotiations - like a marathon
The current contract of E. Abidal expires this summer, but head coach Josep Guardiola has repeatedly expressed his desire to continue seeing the calm and hard-working Frenchman in his team.
The player himself recently mentioned to the media that he dreams of ending his professional career in Catalonia, so he instructed his agent to negotiate only with "Barcelona" first.
However, in the spring of 2011, it seemed that the player's wishes would not come true: although negotiations with the Frenchman were already announced at that time, during a routine health check, a tumor was unexpectedly discovered in his liver.
The operation was successful, and the defender, surprisingly quickly returning to the lineup, managed to play several matches at the end of the last season. In the victorious Champions League final, his teammates gave him the opportunity to lift the trophies won.
However, last summer, negotiations had to be temporarily suspended, and E. Abidal asked the "Barcelona" leaders to wait until December. According to the player, he wanted to make sure that there would be no health complications affecting his career after the tumor removal operation.
Several meetings between representatives of "Barcelona" and E. Abidal's agent David Venditelli took place in late 2011, but it was then announced that the negotiations could be hindered by new laws imposing higher income taxes on Spanish residents and foreigners working in the country.
When news spread that the negotiations with the player were at a standstill, reports flooded the media that "Manchester City", London's "Arsenal" and "Paris Saint Germain" were interested in the defender. However, the rumors did not change E. Abidal's own opinion. In rarely held press conferences, the Frenchman emphatically emphasized that his goal was to end his career at "Barcelona".
