James Rodriguez to Juventus, Mauro Icardi to Real Madrid and more: LaLiga Transfer Roundup, 7 February 2019

Josep Maria Bartomeu says Barcelona are preparing for life without Messi

Josep Maria Bartomeu is preparing Barcelona for life after Messi

Lionel Messi has been in prime form once again and is scoring goals for fun for Barcelona. He has been, for the umpteenth time, their most important player so far this season and looks like he will continue to be for the next two years, in the very least.

However, Barcelona are not willing to let Messi's current form lull them into any sense of complacency. Speaking to Guillem Balague on the Football Daily Podcast (courtesy: Daily Mail), Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu said,

'I know one day Lionel will say he's retiring,'

'We have to prepare the club for the future,'

'We are bringing great young players to the team because we need to continue this era of success. That's our responsibility.

'My mandate will be finished in two seasons. So I need to leave the club in a great position and tell the new president 'that's our legacy'.'

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 Nishant Jayaram