Barcelona should have sold Messi when they had the chance.
The six-time Ballon d’Or winner is out of contract this summer and has been allowed to start negotiations with other clubs.
Messi was determined to leave Camp Nou last summer window but he then decided to stay for another year with the Catalan giants.
Barcelona are over a billion pounds worth of debt and offloading a few of their valuable assets will help them financially.
But Messi leaving for free in the next summer won’t be monetarily beneficial for the Blaugrana and Rivaldo feels the board should have allowed him to leave last August.
“Barcelona were not in good financial health pre-pandemic, but things got nasty in the last year and beyond Lionel Messi’s almost inevitable departure, the club may need to sell some more important players to generate income,” Rivaldo told Betfair.
“As I mentioned previously, the club’s board made a mistake by not selling Lionel Messi while he was still under contract, something Real Madrid did with Cristiano Ronaldo receiving around €100million in exchange [from transfer to Juventus ].
“It’s sad to see such a talented and valuable player leaving Barca for free when the club is going through so many financial problems.”
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