Hansi Flick forbids Barcelona from selling star player despite €50 million offer from European club: Reports

Hansi Flick - who is widely expected to become the next Barcelona boss - has reportedly put his foot down on the sale of midfielder Ilkay Gundogan. The German player is the subject of interest of Turkish giants Galatasaray.

Flick is set to take over from Xavi, who was sacked last week, and oversaw a 2-1 La Liga win at Sevilla on the final day of the league season at the weekend. However, the German boss faces a tough task to assemble a competitive squad, considering the Blaugrana's well-documented financial woes.

As per El Nacional, the club are looking to sell off Ronald Araujo, Raphinha and Frenkie de Jong but reportedly consider Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubasi, Gavi and Marc-Andre ter Stegen as indispensable.

Meanwhile, Gundogan - who arrived last summer on a free transfer - has had a solid debut season at the Camp Nou. In 51 games across competitions, the 33-year-old has racked up five goals and 14 assists.

Despite his contract expiring in 2025, Galatasaray have reportedly tabled an offer of €50 million for Gundogan. Barca could be tempted to accept the offer - owing to their financial owes. But Flick doesn't want his compatriot to be sold off, as he considers the player as indispensable.

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Xavi warns new Barcelona manager to be prepared to 'suffer'

Barcelona outgoing boss Xavi

Xavi had an eventful spell of nearly three years at Barcelona but was relieved of his duties just before the end of the season, which eventually ended without any silverware.

Interestingly, a few weeks earlier, he had expressed his wish to stay on beyond the summer after announcing in January that he would leave at the end of the campaign. However, as things transpired behind the scenes, the legendary Barca boss was relieved of his duties.

Sharing some advice to his successor - widely expected to be Flick - Xavi said that the new boss will need to be patient and prepared to 'suffer' (as per BBC):

"To the new manager, I tell you: 'You will suffer'. This is a very complicated place to be. This is a difficult job and you have to be patient."

Xavi won the La Liga and Supercopa Espana titles last season, but Barca endured a trophyless 2023-24 campaign and lost all three meetings across competitions to their arch-rivals Real Madrid.