Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta reportedly wants to finish his career at Stamford Bridge though the club are in no rush to tie him down to a new deal.

The Spaniard’s contract runs up at the end of the season and could be set to leave the club with Barcelona manager Xavi interested in bringing him to the Nou Camp.

It will be ten years since Azpilicueta joined the club in August and the Athletic have reported that he would keen to extend his stay at the club.

It’s said though that director Marina Granovskaia could let the situation play out until the final weeks of his deal before signing him to a new contract.

Granovskaia has a history of leaving Chelsea stars to play the waiting game, especially when she is confident players won’t decide to sign a pre-contract agreement with an overseas team.

Frank Lampard and John Terry both signed what proved to be their final one-year deals in May of the previous season.

Chelsea have been reluctant to offer long-term deals to players aged over 30, and Granovskaia has never allowed sentimentality get in the way with players like Terry and Lampard allowed to finish their career’s elsewhere.

The same was for Didier Drogba who left the club in 2012 after scoring the winning penalty in the Champions League final – though he did later return for a season before finishing his career in North America.

Ashley Cole meanwhile was released along with Lampard at the end of the 2013-14 season after he was replaced by Azpilicueta in the starting line-up.

‘As I always said, I feel I have the trust and confidence of the club and now I am focused on every game,’ Azpilicueta told the Blues’ official website earlier this month.

‘They are very tough games, and I am enjoying the moment. Eventually the moment will come, but I am fully focused on hopefully getting as many trophies as we can and then we will see.

‘I cannot say anything more than that I am really committed and have a lot of things ahead in the coming months and hopefully we can have a very good season.’

Azpilicueta is not the only key name that is approaching the end of his contract at Chelsea, with Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen also free-agents in the summer.

To date, the Spaniard has made 455 appearances for the club in which he has helped the club win the Premier League on two occasions and the Champions League last season.