Iniesta, 33, is out of contract in June & has been strongly linked with a move for the Serie A champions, who’d like to sign him on a free transfer next summer.

But when asked about Iniesta's future, Bartomeu told Mundo Deportivo:"We already have an agreement in principle to renew & we hope to finalize it in the coming weeks.

"We are waiting these days to keep talking but Iniesta is a player that we want [to see] retire here & that he retires when he thinks he wants to retire."

"The idea is that he has an indefinite contract where it renews automatically every year until he thinks that he can retire or change."

The news will come as a timely boost for both Barcelona & Bartomeu, with reports suggestive of him fighting to hold on to his presidency at the club following a difficult summer that saw Nemar move to PSG & efforts to sign Philippe Coutinho & Marco Verratti fail to materialize.