Manchester United could be forced to wait for Thiago, and Barcelona players try to make him stay
Barcelona appear to have all but given up hope, and even the Catalan media seem to think it's a matter of when and not if, but Barcelona's players are still holding out hope of keeping Thiago. Today's
Mundo Deportivo has two separate pieces which contain references to senior players at Barcelona having a word with the youngster to convince him that his future is at the Camp Nou and not in Manchester.
Mundo pick out Xavi as being the main one and say that the player has been the most insistent that Thiago stays at Barcelona, telling him that he struggled to get into the team at an early age but then went on to achieve great things with the club. Xavi told Thiago a few days ago, presumably whilst he was still on holiday, that he sees him as his successor in the midfield and thinks he can achieve similar throughout his career.
Xavi isn't the only one, Puyol has done a lengthy interview with Mundo Deportivo today and was obviously asked about the future of Thiago and what he thought would happen. The club captain said "I love him and hopefully he won't leave. I don't know what will happen. He's a spectacular player with a great future."
The key for Barcelona and Thiago is patience but the midfielder appears to have run out of it and the club aren't doing anything huge to change his mind, much to the frustration of supporters. Fans are angry that he had this clause to begin with and also annoyed that, given the club knew about the clause, that they didn't make sure he played the required minutes considering they walked their way to the title.
The other Barcelona entrenched newspaper Sport yesterday had a video interview with one of their journalists which was trying to placate supporters and he said that the clause doesn't matter, it's Thiago's will to stay or leave which matters, trying to put the emphasis of any 'blame' on the player. It didn't really work, and he got replies asking that if clauses don't matter then why doesn't Lionel Messi have one for the same amount.
Mundo say that Thiago isn't due for pre-season medical tests until July 15th so nothing imminent needs to happen. All the Spanish sport newspapers carry the ESPN claims that Manchester United could wish to unveil him as soon as this Friday but if the Catalan newspaper are correct then there's no rush on Thiago's side because he wouldn't be facing an awkward return to the Barcelona squad until the week after.
That could benefit Manchester United too, even it could drag on longer than they'd like, the last thing they'd want is for him to return to Barcelona training this week and realise that he didn't want to leave the set-up. The last constant day to day peer pressure he had was probably from David de Gea and whilst contact from Xavi and others is one thing, being back with the squad again would be quite another.
Thiago may have run out of patience with Barcelona but Manchester Untied fans may have to show a little patience themselves, there's no rush forced on the player's side given that he's not due back for 12 days.