Ivan Rakitic will officially become an FC Barcelona player in the coming week.
Since Croatia are out of the World Cup in Brazil, the midfielder is free to travel to Barcelona and finalise the arrangements with his new club.
According to information on the Barcelona FC website, Rakitic would be posing for the traditional picture outside the club offices on Monday at 6.00 PM CET.
The day after, Tuesday, he will be taking routine medical tests at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper. Then at 11.15 AM CET, he’ll sign his new contract in the Camp Nou presidential lounge, and at around noon he’ll be appearing on the pitch in his new kit.
The final stop will be the Ricard Maxenchs pressroom, where he is due to give a press conference at 12.45 PM CET, which will be broadcast live on Barça TV as well as being streamed on the FC Barcelona website with an English translation.
It was officially announced on Monday 16 June that Croatian international Ivan Rakitic would be joining FC Barcelona for the next five seasons.
Ivan Rakitić (born 10 March 1988) is a Croatian footballer who, until his transfer, played for Spanish club Sevilla, as a central or attacking midfielder.
Rakitić started his professional career at FC Basel and spent two seasons with them before he was signed by Schalke 04. After spending three and a half seasons in the German Bundesliga, he was signed by Sevilla in January 2011. Two years later, Rakitić was confirmed as the club captain and captained the team to UEFA Europa League triumph.
On the international level, Rakitić plays for the Croatia national team. Although naturally a product of Switzerland’s youth level, Rakitić pledged his international career to his native parentage of Croatia instead. He made his debut for Croatia in 2007 and has since represented the country at UEFA Euro 2008 and UEFA Euro 2012.
