Lionel Messi’s favouritism set to destroy Barcelona

Barcelona are staring at a major crisis in the near future.

Barcelona continue keeping the pressure on Real Madrid, who have the La Liga destiny in their own hands. A 1-0 win over Real Valladolid, thanks to Arturo Vidal’s finish gave the Blaugrana their third win on the bounce. Lionel Messi made history by becoming the only player this century besides Thierry Henry to have 20 goals and assists in a single league season.

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Despite winning on their away trip, the Blaugrana received bad news about Antoine Griezmann missing the rest of this season with a thigh injury. With three games coming over a week, having the France international on-board as he was finally picking up form and establishing link-up play would’ve been a good thing.

Nonetheless, the club must now entirely rely on Luis Suarez. The Uruguay international has shown signs of a slowdown in recent years and despite coming up strong after his injury, Barca’s board of directors has decided to bring in a striker to replace him. The club’s third all-time top marksman is 34 and has repaid each and every penny invested in him.

Antoine Griezmann and Martin Braithwaite are the two options still at the club, but the duo are not fan favourites. The World Cup winner was never warmly welcomed at the Camp Nou, whereas the former Leganes star is only seen as a temporary player at Catalonia in spite of having some more years to run on his contract at the club.

Barca are ready to look beyond Lautaro Martinez

Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez was the club’s primary target and his 111 million euros’ release clause seemed a reasonable price despite their financial troubles. However, a delay in reach an agreement saw the Blaugrana miss out on the Argentina international’s services thereby making Lionel Messi grow livid, Diario GOL claims.

Josep Maria Bartomeu and his officials had kept a striker’s signing as their top agenda prior to next season and are willing to look at other reasonably priced options. Moreover, they are hopeful that the Inter forward would open up about wanting to leave and therefore, see the cost of negotiations fall by a considerable amount.

But Lionel Messi has acted up once again and furiously blocked the club’s approach for Lautaro Martinez or any other options. He believes that Luis Suarez can continue after displaying a rich run of form after returning from injury and apart from the on-field matters, he believes that a very good friend could depart the club and city for newer ventures in case a striker is signed.

Suarez is undoubtedly a brilliant player and has the capability of delivering when used judiciously, but with age catching up, a striker must be signed. Showing faith in Griezmann would be a good idea but Lautaro Martinez was always an upgrade and the club should continue negotiating for the former Racing Club player’s services.

With the Nerazzurri having spent 40 million euros on signing Achraf Hakimi, they make look to make cash and their lethal star may bring them abundant funds. In addition to that, Antonio Conte is looking for a major squad revamp and players like Arturo Vidal, Ivan Rakitic and Nelson Semedo could continually be offered in talks.

The last thing that the club must do is listen to Lionel Messi right now. The little man always has problems with the board’s decisions and wants to interfere in the hierarchy’s decision-making. He brought personal life and friendships for the matter pertaining to Suarez’s replacement and with the club in mind, that must’ve never been put on the table.

What do you think Barca should do with their objective of landing a striker?