Deco confirms Chelsea star rejected Barcelona contract extension

Barcelona sporting director Deco has lifted the lid on why Marc Guiu joined Chelsea this summer.

The Premier League giants continue to add players to their bloated squad, despite concerns over Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), with Guiu opting to swap Catalonia for London.

The 18-year-old was blooded into the Barcelona first team last season, and his contract was put up for renewal over the summer, with La Blaugrana confident of retaining the La Masia graduate.

However, despite looking certain to stay, Guiu chose to accept Chelsea�s offer, and Barcelona pocketed a �6m transfer fee.

Deco has spoken about how the deal came to fruition with Guiu�s rejection of their offer leading him to Stamford Bridge.

�Chelsea paid the release clause and he left. He had an old contract, with a �6m release clause. He was offered an important contract and an important project, but he made the decision to go another way�, as per quotes from Diario Sport.

�He took an offer from Chelsea. We offered him a project to be a forward for Barca, but he did not want it.�

Guiu has played a bit-part role so far at Chelsea this season, with just 25 minutes of Premier League action to his name, and no starts yet under new boss Enzo Maresca, as he settles into life in the English top-flight.

The new US head coach was officially unveiled on Friday, outlining his plans ahead of a crucial period for soccer in the United States.

Mauricio Pochettino gave a good first impression in his first publish appearance as head coach of the United States Men�s National Team.

The Argentine was unveiled as the new head coach at a press conference in New York, alongside US Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone, sporting director Matt Crockerand CEO JT Batson. But despite Pochettino�s confident, assured performance in front of the world�s press, the event suffered technical issues in the opening stages.

The first few minutes of the press conference were obscured as audio problems prevented those following the USMNT stream from hearing Pochettino�s first words.

�I�m confident that we�ve secured not only the best coach, but the best person to take our program forward,� US Soccer technical director Matt Crocker said in the opening moments of the press conference, shortly before the audio abruptly cut out.

However after those early issues the technical problems were solved and we got a sense of the Pochettino�s plans for USMNT.

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