Barça Candidate Agrees Chivu Deal

MADRID, June 6 (Reuters) - Barcelona presidential candidate Jaume Llaurado announced on Friday that Ajax defender Cristian Chivu had signed a deal that will bring the player to the Catalan club if he wins next week's elections.

Llaurado, who is one of six candidates bidding for the presidency, said that the highly-rated 22-year-old Romanian international had agreed to sign a five-year contract with Barcelona.

'We reached an agreement with him on May 11 and he will come to Barcelona if we win the election,' Llaurado told reporters.

'He will be the cornerstone of the future Barcelona and is one of the players that we believe will make Barcelona an unbeatable team.'

Chivu, who is captain of both Ajax and Romania, is still under contract with the Dutch club, but Llaurado said he had reached an agreement to secure his release.

Llaurado's announcement comes the day after rival candidate Joan Laporta announced that he had secured a deal to bring Turkish international goalkeeper Rustu Recber to the club if he wins the elections.

Laporta has also said he is in talks with Manchester United to sign England skipper David Beckham.

Llaurado is running third in the polls behind Laporta and front runner Lluis Bassat for the top job at the Catalan club.