November 24, 2018 Barcelona’s Argentinian forward Lionel Messi
reacts during the Spanish league football match between Club
Atletico de Madrid and FC Barcelona at the Wanda Metropolitano
stadium in Madrid. JAVIER SORIANO / AFP
Interim Barcelona president Carles Tusquets said
Thursday he would have sold Argentine star Lionel Messi in the
summer.
Messi made an attempt to leave Barcelona this summer before
backing down. He can talk to other clubs in January and leave for
free when his contract expires in June, with Manchester City
expected to make a renewed attempt to lure the 33-year-old away
from Camp Nou.
“From an economic point of view, I would have sold Messi this
summer. Economically, that would have been desirable,” Tusquets
told Catalan radio Rac1.
“La Liga imposes salary caps and that would have helped us,”
Tusquets said when asked what a potential transfer would have
offered.
Tusquets, who took over as interim president after the
resignation of Josep Maria Bartomeu in October, all but ruled out a
return of Neymar to Barcelona from Paris Saint-Germain.
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Argentine forward Lionel Messi looks downwards during the Spanish
League football match between FC Barcelona and CA Osasuna at the
Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on July 16, 2020. LLUIS GENE /
AFP
“If he comes as a free agent, that could work, but if we don’t
sell, we won’t be able to recruit. It won’t be possible, unless the
next president (who will be elected on January 24) has a miracle in
his hands,” said Tusquets.
Barca’s financial status, Tusquets added, was “worrying, very
bad, but with hope”.
“We will not be able to pay salaries in January,” he said.
“In January, the players will not be paid, but it’s not serious.
The players have two big paydays, in January and July. That has
been delayed, as have title bonuses.”
AFP
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