It is a decision that could cause an earthquake in football Europe.
Will Lionel Messi (34) renew his contract with FC Barcelona? Or is the Argentine leaving the Catalans after more than 20 years?
It’s clear: If Messi stays, it will have a serious impact on the rest of the squad. The Athletic has put together a list of players who could leave the club this summer.
Because: According to “The Athletic“Barça has to drastically reduce its salary costs. These should have been 671 million euros in the 2019/20 season and only around half of this amount for the coming season.
Hence on the list: the German national goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen (29), who missed the European Championship due to a knee operation and is currently back in training.
Ter Stegen (with the club since 2014) still has a contract until 2025, but is one of the highest-paid goalkeepers in the world. Even if – as of now – it seems unlikely that he will leave Barcelona, a scenario could arise that the club would have to think about Ter Stegen’s sale …
The case is clearer with Sergi Roberto (29), Samuel Umtiti (27), Philippe Coutinho (29), Miralem Pjanic (31), Antoine Griezmann (30) or Ousmane Dembélé (24). Sequentially.
Roberto: The right-back had a poor 2020/21 season and was injured a lot. Since his contract only runs for one year, it is now time to sell in the summer (Man City should be interested) and collect the transfer fee or extend the contract again. The former seems more likely …
Umtiti: The contract (until 2023) of the French world champion is said to be very well endowed, so it could be difficult to get rid of him. Also because no other club will be willing to reward Umtiti as well.
The center-back Samuel Umtiti has played for FC Barcelona since 2016Photo: REUTERS
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Coutinho: Coutinho’s “problem” was actually only solved when he was loaned to Bayern for a season in 2019/20. The Brazilian has been in Barcelona since January 2018, but not really happy there and still has a contract until 2023. According to “The Athletic”, a fate similar to James Rodriguez could blossom for him. Real sent the Colombian to Everton FC for free last summer to get him off the payroll …
Pjanic: In his first year he had a difficult time under coach Ronald Koeman (58) and had a three-year contract. High on the sales list, but the case is similar to Umtiti’s: who pays Pjanic what he earns in Barcelona? Tough negotiations are in the room …
Griezmann: With 20 million euros annually, the top earner behind Messi. A sale would therefore make perfect sense. Griezmann has only now emphasized at the European Championship that he wants to fulfill his contract in Barcelona (until 2024) and then look for a new adventure in Major League Soccer (MLS). But: With Memphis Depay (27) from Olympique Lyon, he will have a new competitor from this summer …
Dembélé: The contract of the ex-BVB star expires in 2022, it should actually be sold now, but was seriously injured at the European Championship and has to be operated on on the knee. The downtime: unclear. Now there is fear at Camp Nou that Dembélé will sit out his contract and move on to another club in the summer of 2022. To a club that will not pay a transfer fee, but will pay a nice bonus.
Whatever the Messi decision, it will be a difficult transfer summer for Barcelona …
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