Lionel Messi and Sergio Ramos could potentially be among 15 players to reportedly leave Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in the summer.
As per L'Equipe, the Parisian club are looking for a major overhaul of their squad in the summer. They are looking to inculcate more young players into the squad but the move is also motivated by the financial aspects.
PSG could potentially face new sanctions from the UEFA Champions League due to the Financial Fair Play breaches. They were already fined €10 million for the 2020-21 season with €45 million suspended fine.
The Parisians, hence, need to balance their books and reduce their wage bill ahead of the upcoming season.
This could see them put Messi and Ramos' contract talks on hold. The duo's current contract expires in the summer but with the club's financial issues, their future is under speculation.
The Ligue 1 giants could also offload several players, including the likes of Juan Bernat, Renato Sanches, Carlos Soler, and Fabian Ruiz. Hugo Etikite, on loan from Reims, could also return to his parent club in the summer.
PSG are also looking for solutions for their players currently out on loan at other clubs. This includes Keylor Navas at Nottingham Forest, Layvin Kurzawa at Fulham, Colin Dagba at Strasbourg, and Abdou Diallo at RB Leipzig.
Julian Draxler at Benfica, Leandro Paredes at Juventus, Georginio Wijnaldum at AS Roma, and Mauro Icardi at Galatasaray could also be offloaded in the summer.
However, selling these players on loan could prove to be tough due to their current wages.
Kingsley Coman on stop PSG duo Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi
Bayern Munich beat PSG 3-0 on aggregate in the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League. The Bavarians won the second leg 2-0 at the Allianz Arena last week.
While Neymar Jr. was out injured, Kylian Mbappe and Messi failed to capitalize on the few chances they had to help their side back into the game. After the game, Bayern fullback Kingsley Coman was asked if they had a specific plan to stop Mbappe. He said (via GOAL):
“There was no big anti- Mbappe plan. The most important thing was to cut his relationship with Lionel Messi. Usually, we are also a team that presses very high. But there, we also went back down to leave it a little less deep.”
Mbappe and Messi have scored 49 goals and provided 25 assists between them across competitions for PSG this season.