In A Shocking Move, Lionel Messi Asks Barcelona To Sell Their Current Second Best Player: Report

FC Barcelona reportedly are under pressure to sell the second-best player of their current squad after a recommendation from skipper Lionel Messi.

Messi wants Barcelona to let go of their goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who has been their second-best player over the last couple of seasons and hence has seen his transfer fee reach $109 million. The German is currently one of the best shot-stoppers in the world alongside Atletico Madrid’s Jan Oblak and Liverpool’s Alisson Becker.

Barcelona have begun to fall apart with several internal problems going on in the club. Recently as many as six board members resigned after they decided to speak jointly against Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu, who has been accused of hiring social media firms to tarnish the club’s players. Bartomeu, who has expressed his desire of becoming the club’s president, might not survive in his current post for a very long time.

In addition to these issues, the players Barcelona wanted to get rid of in order to fund Neymar and Inter Milan’s talented Lautaro Martinez have lost their market values and are struggling to find buyers. Barca have spent huge amounts to sign the likes of Philippe Coutinho, Ousmane Dembele and Samuel Umtiti but none of them have lived up to their potential at Nou Camp.

A news report from Diario GOL has claimed that Messi has urged Barcelona, in what could be a risky move, to sell Ter Stegen in the upcoming summer transfer window. The goalkeeper, who has two years remaining in his current contract, has not yet renewed it as he has been demanding a pay of $17m-a-year, a value that would put him second on the list of highest-paid players at Nou Camp, only behind Messi.

Since the Catalans have been constantly postponing Ter Stegen’s financial demands, the goalkeeper is reportedly unhappy in the club. Moreover, according to reports, Ter Stegen has had a fallout with his captain too, which is why Messi has lost his patience and wants Barcelona to let the former go.

It is understood that big clubs such as Chelsea and Bayern Munich have shown interest in signing the goalie for his estimated transfer fee of $109m. In the meantime, Blaugrana allegedly are in talks with Ajax Amsterdam’s goalkeeper, Andre Onana over a move to Spain this summer to become Barcelona’s new number one goal-stopper.