Whether he signs a new contract at the club or not, the unthinkable is edging ever closer for Barcelona – losing Lionel Messi.
The 33-year-old made it clear in the summer, with the transfer request he sent via burofax, that he wanted out of the Camp Nou.
The resignation of Josep Maria Bartomeu has offered some hope as to whether the Argentine will eventually end up staying, but there is still no movement on any sort of contract renewal.
A new president with the right ideas and intentions could persuade Messi to stay beyond the expiration of his deal at the end of this season.
However, the performance of Ronald Koeman’s side so far this campaign doesn’t give many reasons for optimism that Barcelona can be challenging for the top prizes in the near future.
So, if Messi does end up departing, who could Barcelona bring in to replace him? We’ve compiled a few options.
Lautaro Martinez
Barcelona‘s pursuit of the Inter forward has been well documented, even before Messi himself handed in that transfer request in August. A dynamic striker with plenty of potential, Lautaro would certainly bring something valuable to Barcelona‘s team in the absence of Messi.
The Argentina international has a contract at his current club until the summer of 2023. During the summer, Inter were unwilling to drop their lofty valuation of the 23-year-old, which ultimately caused the transfer to stall. Should Lautaro run down his contract, the Catalans could be in business.
Neymar
Perhaps the obvious choice, there has been constant talk of a Camp Nou return for Neymar since his record-breaking move to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017. For now, the Brazilian’s only chance of reuniting with his former club is in the Champions League or the court room. Barcelona‘s financial woes mean this deal is a non-starter at the moment. Matters may change, though.
“[Neymar] would like to return to Barcelona, his representatives have told us,” said Barcelona presidential candidate Emili Rousaud in December. “A transfer can’t be done; Barcelona don’t have the financial capability now. It will be when his contract expires.”
Neymar‘s contract has just 18 months left to run in Paris, although PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi recently stated that the 28-year-old wants to pen a new contract in the French capital.
Mohamed Salah
If you take Barcelona‘s financial problems out of the equation, the Egyptian may well be the best player to fill Messi‘s spot in the team for purely sporting reasons. At 28, Salah is in the prime years of his career and has proved to be one of Europe’s best players in recent seasons. What’s more, there have been recent reports of Salah being unhappy at Liverpool.
“Real Madrid and Barcelona are top clubs… We never know what is going to happen in the future,” he told AS in December. “Right now, I can say that everything is in the club’s hands. Of course I want to break records [at Liverpool] and, I repeat, every record in the club, but everything’s in the hands of the club.”
Salah, like Lautaro, still has two and a half years left on his deal at Liverpool.
Ansu Fati
The solution to Barcelona‘s Messi problem may well be under their own noses. In his couple of seasons with the first team, Ansu Fati has demonstrated his ability to make the difference for the Blaugrana here and now. A knee injury has derailed his 2020/21 campaign, but there’s still plenty left to come from the incredibly talented teenager.
Aside from Ansu Fati, there are a couple of other names in the current Barcelona squad who could attempt to fill the Messi void. Like Ansu Fati, Pedri has already proved to be an asset to Koeman‘s side since joining up with the first team. Antoine Griezmann, who Barcelona spent 120 million euros on in 2019, looks less likely to step up to the plate.
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