Barcelona hope to persuade Lionel Messi to stay at the club, but some members of the board have told ESPN that they wouldn’t be against selling him in the right circumstances.

New coach Ronald Koeman has publicly said he wants to build the team around Messi, and sources have told ESPN that the board’s stance is that they want to keep him.

However, Messi’s doubts about his future have generated an internal debate among the board. Some directors have told ESPN that they would be prepared to listen to offers that would allow Koeman to reconstruct the team at the same time as reducing the wage bill.

Messi has grown frustrated with events on and off the pitch in recent seasons. He had a public falling-out with former sporting director Eric Abidal earlier this year and criticised the board for attempting to put pressure on the players when they were negotiating a wage cut due to the coronavirus pandemic.

On the pitch, Champions League exits against Roma and Liverpool have been followed by a first trophy-less season since 2007-08, with the humiliating 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich topping everything off.

RAC 1 first revealed on Thursday that Messi has already met with Koeman and informed him that he sees himself more out than in at Camp Nou after the Champions League quarterfinal defeat to Bayern. The Sun

Picture: Lionel Messi