Ronald Koeman already has a replacement for Lionel Messi at Barcelona. With Nike’s help, Barcelona made Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) striker Kylian Mbappe a replacement for Messi.
The news was revealed by Diario Gol, who claims Koeman proposed Mbappe’s name as a replacement for Messi if La Pulga left Barcelona.
Koeman doesn’t want to keep Messi at Barcelona because he thinks La Pulga has no desire to continue playing at Camp Nou. For this reason Koeman already has a plan B by trying to get Mbappe.
Mbappe has a contract with PSG until 2022, so now is the best moment for Les Parisiens to sell the 21-year-old striker at a high price. If he sells Mbappe next season, PSG will likely only get less money because of the remaining contract for one year.
It’s not cheap to recruit Mbappe. PSG had to spend 180 million euros to get Mbappe from AS Monaco in 2018. Mbappe is the most expensive European player in the world today, only losing to Neymar’s transfer, which PSG bought for 222 million euros from Barcelona.
Nike help
The chances of Barcelona getting Mbappe if Messi leaves are quite large. The reason is, Barcelona and Mbappe have the same sponsor, namely Nike. Messi’s adidas-sponsored departure and Mbappe’s arrival to Barcelona will make Nike happy.
Nike also has the opportunity to provide financial assistance to Barcelona to get Mbappe from PSG. A situation that certainly makes the club happy in the midst of uncertain financial conditions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Barcelona actually almost got Mbappe in 2017. However, when Barcelona technical director Robert Fernandez preferred to recruit Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dortmund.
Mbappe has also been the target of Barcelona’s rivals, Real Madrid, to date. However, with high prices and uncertain economic conditions, Los Blancos are likely to withdraw from the hunt for Mbappe.
Barcelona supporters want Neymar or Kylian Mbappe as a replacement for Lionel Messi if they leave the Blaugrana.
The fan of the Catalan club’s supporters hopes the club can find another star who can become a successor, La Pulga, nicknamed Messi.
In the voting conducted by Marca, some supporters chose two Paris Saint-Germain stars, Neymar and Mbappe.
With more than 200 thousand voters, 27 percent of the votes wanted Neymar to return to Camp Nou, while another 24 percent hoped that Mbappe would wear a Barcelona shirt.
In recent years, Barcelona has been linked with Neymar. The reason is, since the Brazilian star joined PSG in 2017, Barcelona has not found the right replacement.
Messi’s departure could make Neymar or Mbappe a new star at Barcelona. The opportunity for Neymar or Mbappe to become the world’s best player is also wide open by moving to Spain.
In the poll 64 percent of voters believed Messi had negotiated with another club. With 36 percent of them believe the club is Manchester City. While the other 20 percent is divided into: Inter Milan and PSG.
Most of the Barcelona fans believe Messi will move to Manchester City because of his close relationship with Pep Guardiola and Txiki Begiristain.
One of the highlights of the vote, supporters considered that the trigger for Messi’s desire to leave Barcelona was club president Josep Bartomeu. As many as 45 percent of supporters blamed Bartomeu for Messi’s desire to leave the club.
