A leading candidate to become Barcelona‘s next president admits Neymar's campaign for Lionel Messi to join him at Paris Saint-Germain has left him fearful.
Agusti Benedito is hopeful he can be the man to emerge on top in January’s pivotal day at the ballots as the club looks for long-term stability after Josep Bartomeu’s disastrous spell in charge of the club.
Messi looks set to leave when his contract expires at the end of the season as his relationship with club officials continues to disintegrate with each passing week.
Manchester City are the bookies’ favourites to land the mercurial 33-year-old but punters are also piling in on PSG after Neymar ’s very public pitch to his close friend after a recent Champions League win.
The pair were a deadly double act during their time together at Barcelona and he admits he turned the air blue after hearing the Brazilian superstar had turned recruitment agent.
Benedito told Radio Marca : “So, the first thing will be that he has a change of opinion, because if we have to compete with any other team in Europe that has their eyes on Messi... if the issue is economic, we are not going to be able to.
“When I heard Neymar, I said, 'Holy sh*t, watch out for these guys' because PSG belong to Qatar, who are organising the World Cup, who have a club of their own... If PSG wanted him, economically we would not be able to compete.
“I hope that the day will come when Messi will say that after 20 years at Barcelona, he wants to continue."
