Things are getting heated in this Ivan Rakitic case. The Croatia international has been speaking quite often about his situation at Barcelona, where he has not been a regular starter since the beginning of the season. His recent claims were that he does not deserve to be outside of action after five years of being a starter for Blaugrana.

And the latest transfer rumours from Spain are that his days at Barcelona appear to be nearing an end with Atletico Madrid now willing to meet the asking price for the player. According to Movistar+, Atleti are preparing to pay 40 million euros for the 31-year-old midfielder.

Whilst that seems a little bit too steep for someone who is in his thirties and not wanted at the club, Diego Simeone’s team might get an experienced midfielder as early as January. Atletico Madrid could really use a player of his qualities and improve the squad depth in midfield.