Lionel Messi wants 6 players sold from Barcelona, Real Madrid set to sign €220 million duo and more: Transfer Roundup, 26 May 2019

Messi wants 6 first team players to be sold in the summer

Philippe Coutinho (centre) and Ivan Rakitic (right)

It was all going well for Barcelona until the start of May. A dispiriting defeat at the hands of Liverpool in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final tie after winning the first leg 3-0 was a major blow for La Blaugrana. Now their defeat in the Copa Del Rey final against Valencia has proved to be the final nail in the coffin.

Lionel Messi is not at all impressed with the way the team responded to adversity. Messi believes that 6 players- Ivan Rakitic, Philippe Coutinho, Sergi Roberto, Nelson Semedo, Artur and Boateng- need to be sold in the summer. He is also concerned about the dwindling contributions of both Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba.

Messi wants to go out in style at Barcelona and wants the club to back him by getting some quality players on board after what has eventually become a rather forgettable season despite their LaLiga win.

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