Messi wants Barcelona to sign €102 million Real Madrid target, Real Madrid launch stunning bid for Cristiano Ronaldo replacement and more: Transfer Roundup, 22 May 2019

By Shambhu Ajith

Modified May 22, 2019 16:47 GMT

Messi has asked the Barcelona top brass to not be complacent

Lionel Messi wants Barcelona to move for Leroy Sane as Griezmann alternative

Antoine Griezmann has caused the rumour mill to go into overdrive by announcing via social media that he will not be at Atletico Madrid beyond this summer. Barcelona are heavily linked with him and Valverde also conceded that the club is in talks with the Frenchman.

However, Lionel Messi does not want Barcelona to rest on their laurels and want to instead see what kind of a shot they got at signing Pep Guardiola's flying winger Leroy Sane. Real Madrid are also interested in signing the German international who has recently been forced to warm the bench more than he would have liked.

The emergence of Bernardo Silva has caused a real problem for Sane whose contract runs out in 2021. The report claims that the German has no intention of extending his contract and that Messi has asked for the attacking trident to be completed with a world-class player.

With his skillset and the temperament that he has shown at such a young age, Leroy Sane definitely fits the bill.

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 Sripad