Lionel Messi wants €143 million duo at Barcelona, Real Madrid in advanced talks to sign £150 million superstar and more: Transfer Roundup, 22 April 2019

Lionel Messi wants Barcelona to sign Joshua Kimmich and Matthijs De Ligt

Ernesto Valverde is now starting to make more long-term plans at Barcelona and the club is expected to make quite a few changes in the upcoming summer transfer window. With several of the players in their core group walking into the twilight of their career, Messi has now asked for 2 top players to be signed up.

Lionel Messi has reportedly even asked his Barca teammate Cillessen to recommend Barcelona to the goalkeeper's international teammate Matthijs De Ligt. De Ligt is one of the hottest young properties in Europe right now and has been in sensational form for the Dutch side as they head into the semi-final stage of the UEFA Champions League.

With Sergi Roberto seen as a player who could fit into the midfield, Barcelona could use more cover in the right-back position and Kimmich fits the bill perfectly. Hence, Messi has asked for both these top young defenders to be signed up.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Sripad