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Barca extend deal of striker Pedro Rodriguez

Xinhua, June 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

FC Barcelona announced on Thursday that the club had extended the contract of Spain international forward Pedro Rodriguez until the end of June 2019.

The move, which comes just two days before Barca take on Juventus in the final of the Champions League comes as a slight surprise given that Pedro is currently fourth choice at the club behind the 'trident' of Leo Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar, although his diminished role this campaign has still allowed him to score 11 goals and give eight assists.

Indeed there had been wide speculation regarding the interest of English sides such as Arsenal and Liverpool to try and sign him this summer.

One factor behind Barca's thinking is that Pedro has appeared content with his new role and also the fact that the club cannot sign any new players this summer as the complete a FIFA ban imposed over irregularities in the club's youth system.

Pedro will be 28 year's old next month and should he see out his full deal will therefore be almost 32 by the time it expires. His buyout clause remains set at 150 million euros (around 165 million U.S. dollars)

The move to renew Pedro's contract comes just a two days after the club extended the contract tying left back Jordi Alba to the Camp Nou until 2020. Endi