Barca return for Pique

Barcelona have agreed terms with Manchester United to sign defender Gerard Pique on a four-year deal.

The transfer will see the 21-year-old rejoin the Catalan giants, who he left to join United in 2004 at the age of 17.

He is set to sign a contract with the Nou Camp outfit at 1.15pm on Tuesday afternoon.

A statement on the Barcelona website read: “The player will this afternoon sign a contract that will link him to FC Barcelona until June 30 2012 and which will include a buy-out clause of €50m.

“With this transfer Gerard Pique returns to Barca, the club in which he began his career as a player between 1997 and 2004, when he left to join Manchester United.”

Pique becomes the second player to join Barca this summer following the arrival of Seydou Keita from Sevilla on Monday.