This article is part of Football FanCast's Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba's haircuts to League Two relegation battles...

Ivan Rakitic's case might be one of the most interesting ones to happen in the Catalan capital.

The now 31-year-old Croatian midfielder is undoubtedly a big part of Barcelona's jigsaw and has been ever since he arrived at the club from Sevilla back in 2014.

So far, he has already tallied 274 appearances for the Blaugrana.

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But times have changed, and they have changed drastically for Rakitic.

Players come and go but he experienced the greatest change that practically happened overnight - he went from the most used player in the whole 2018/19 season and Ernesto Valverde's talisman to an outcast chained to the bench and reduced to cameo appearances in the 2019/20 campaign with just 186 minutes to his name across all competitions.

And now, in a recent interview with a Croatian outlet 24 sata, Rakitic himself admitted that if things don't change, he will have to sit down with the people in charge and discuss his situation.

But one other thing that's mentioned in the source, however, is Juventus' offer to take the Croat away from Barcelona for what was reportedly a €50m (£44.1m) price tag during the 2019 summer transfer window.

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Looking at that deal and Rakitic's diminishing importance from the team, it seems the Catalans were wrong not to accept it.

After all, he is already 31 years old and his market value is dropping rapidly since 2018. At the moment, according to Transfermarkt's estimated evaluation, Rakitic is currently worth around £31.5m and since he has been demoted to a secondary role at the club, that value is bound to decrease even further.

This is nothing new with players who are slowly but surely going towards the twilight of their careers but if Barcelona feel that the Croat has lost his spot in the team, then why keep him around at all?

And yes, maybe €50m (£44.1m) is not as much as they would have wanted for a player who was once a big part of their squad but in all likelihood, they could get even less for him in the future.

Their decision to pass on such a big offer for a declining player with a supporting role at the club could prove costly sooner rather than later.

Will they ever be able to get that big of an offer ever again?

We'll have to wait and see but as things currently stand - that might've been a big summer blunder for the Catalans.