Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo might play together at Barcelona in the 2021-2022 season according to a report by a Spanish news platform AS.
It was reported that the new president of Barcelona, Joan Laporta is looking at the possibility of having Lionel Messi and his career rival Cristiano Ronaldo play as teammates at FC Barcelona.
Recall that Barcelona are still trying to extend the contract of Lionel Messi at the club. The contract of the 33-year-old forward will expire in less than 8 days from now and yet, the club has not made an official announcement concerning the future of the Argentine football icon.
While the contract between Juventus and Cristiano Ronaldo will expire in June 2022. Reports claimed that the Portuguese footballer wishes to leave the Italian club before the expiration of his contract.
Also, there have been reports linking him with a return to Manchester United this summer because Juventus are looking at how they can cut their wage bill ahead of the 2021-2022 season.
But as Juventus are complaining of financial hardship, so is Barcelona which makes it difficult for a 6-times Ballon d’Or winner to play alongside a 5-times Ballon d’Or winner. The wage bills of Lionel Messi and Ronaldo could be a huge burden on any club in this era in which the coronavirus pandemic has affected the revenue of clubs across Europe.
On the other hand, even if FC Barcelona’s president goes on with the plan to bring Ronaldo to Barcelona despite the financial implications, it might be difficult for Ronaldo to accept the offer. Recall that Ronaldo had a good time playing for Barcelona’s arch-rival Real Madrid between 2009 and 2018, hence, he might not want to destroy the followership he has been enjoying from Madrid’s fans.
‘AS’ reported that Barcelona’s president has not officially made his intention known to the football agent of Cristiano Ronaldo Jorge Mendes.
However, the news platform claimed that the club’s president has already lined up three players, Antoine Griezmann, Sergi Roberto, Coutinho as the players he would use to swap Cristiano Ronaldo from Juventus this summer.
Meanwhile, as Barcelona are contemplating on uniting Ronaldo with Messi, the two players are trying to win laurels for their respective countries.
Cristiano Ronaldo is struggling to help Portugal qualify from Euro 2020 group F. He has scored three goals and provided an assist so far in the European Championship.
36 year old Ronaldo was the Serie A top scorer, the league which has had the most star of the match awards received and is now the joint top scorer at EURO. Crazy when you deep it that this is regarded as his worst season in a over a decade.
— TC (@totalcristiano) June 22, 2021
While Lionel Messi is battling to help Argentina qualify from the Copa America Group A. He has scored a goal and provided an assist so far in the competition.
🔝 Lionel #Messi, en lo más alto: igualó a Javier Mascherano como el jugador con más presencias en la Selección @Argentina 🇦🇷 ¡Vamos, capitán! 🔟⚽ pic.twitter.com/V9ewhrF1dq
— Selección Argentina 🇦🇷 (@Argentina) June 22, 2021
