Lionel Messi staying ‘essential’ for FC Barcelona… but transfer plans could accelerate ‘pretty quickly’

Messi tried and failed to go away Barcelona final summer season, with the LaLiga giants standing agency over their interpretation of the Argentine talisman’s contract phrases.

With Barca dealing with big monetary issues and former president Josep Maria Bartomeu stepping down final October together with the membership’s board of administrators, conserving Messi was a giant win regardless of the star’s astronomical wages.

Whereas Messi is now free to speak to different European golf equipment over a attainable free trasfer this summer season, the 33-year-old is but to determine whether or not he’ll depart the Camp Nou – and far will rely on each who the membership’s subsequent president is, and the way Ronald Koeman’s workforce end the season.

Barca have loads of younger expertise coming by way of similar to Ansu Fati and Pedri, however Ferrer believes it is important that Messi stays put to assist the membership carry by way of the subsequent crop of younger expertise – and, crucially, free from the strain of getting to fill his boots.

Ferrer, talking at a LaLiga occasion to have fun the ninetieth anniversary of the Spanish high flight, mentioned of Messi staying: “It’s important for Barcelona I feel, as a result of I feel the gamers aren’t prepared but to take this problem.

“So so long as we will maintain Messi it is going to be higher for Barcelona as a result of he’s going to show all of the younger skills and the younger skills are going to study study for him, and a few of them clearly received’t be the subsequent Messi however must take accountability.

“We’ve seen gamers that for the time being weren’t taking it within the final years like [Ousmane] Dembele for example, now he’s doing it. Pedri will be the one, [Ansu] Fati would be the one, so having fun with Messi in Barcelona will probably be essential.

“I feel the subsequent president of Barcelona may have one thing to do with it.”

LaLiga pundit Guillem Balague added: “He hasn’t determined, which is attention-grabbing as a result of lots of people assume he’s positively, positively going and that hasn’t occurred but… plenty of it relies on what occurs this season.”

He added of the topsy-turvy nature of the season thus far: “The best way it’s going… if it finally ends up going effectively then we may even have Messi deciding to remain, but it surely all relies on the chairman.

“He says he’ll determine on the finish of the season, but it surely can’t be – it needs to be earlier, and in March [the elections] issues will go fairly rapidly.”

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