Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola believes Barcelona will face a period of readjustment when Lionel Messi's time at the club comes to an end.
This season is Messi's 16th in Barca's first team and he is the club's all-time record scorer with 622 goals in 711 appearances across all competitions.
With six Ballon d'Ors to his name, Messi's place in the pantheon of football greats is secure, but he is closer to the end of his career than he is the start and Barcelona will one day have to face up to the prospect of life without him.
In an interview with Spanish YouTube channel Post United, Pep Guardiola was asked whether Barcelona will be impacted by Messi's exit as severely as Real Madrid were when Cristiano Ronaldo left for Juventus in 2018.
"It is inevitable, these players are so important," Guardiola responded. "When Messi leaves Barca they will need some time to re-adjust. It is inevitable.
"These guys score 40 or 50 goals a season."
Coincidentally, Guardiola's comments come as there is some speculation surrounding Messi's future at Barcelona after the Argentine publicly criticised sporting director Eric Abidal.
Abidal recently suggested Barcelona’s players were partly responsible for Ernesto Valverde’s sacking in January but Messi hit out at his former teammate for not naming individual players.
“When you talk about players, you have to give names because if not, it gives air to things which are not true,” Messi wrote on his Instagram story.
Messi is out of contract next summer but there is a clause in his contract which would allow him to leave for free at the end of this season.
