Messi 'attacks' Barcelona over plans to sell of Coutinho, names player they should sell

Lionel Messi is reportedly at loggerhead with Barcelona executives over the transfer of Brazilian winger Philippe Coutinho this summer. 

The 27-year-old has been on loan at Bayern Munich since last August but it appears the German League side is not willing to make his temporary stay permanent. 

A few Premier League clubs like Chelsea, Everton, Leicester City and Newcastle United are said to be interested in the forward whose career is currently dwindling at the moment.  

The Argentine and a few other players are however against the sale of the former Liverpool playmaker - as The Mirror claims they will prefer the club sell Ousmane Dembele instead. 

Coutinho joined Barcelona in a deal around £142 million in 2018 but he has failed to fill the shoes of his compatriot, Neymar who moved to PSG in a world record fee of about £200 million. 

The Mirror quoting The Athletic claims Messi and some of the senior players believe Barca still need Coutinho's services. 

Reports further revealed that the players know that some of them will have to go in a bid to raise money for bringing Neymar back to the Camp Nou. 

After accepting pay cut due to the deadly coronavirus ravaging the world at the moment, the 32-year-old said they did it under an 'exceptional situation'. 

"Before going any further, we want to make it clear that we were always willing to reduce our salaries because we understand perfectly that we are in an exceptional situation. 

"We, as players, are always here to help the club when they ask. 

"It does not cease to surprise us that from within the club there were those who tried to put us under the magnifying glass and tried to add pressure to do something that we always knew we would do. 

"If we didn't speak until now, it's because the priority was to find solutions to help the club and to see who the most affected were during this situation. 

"For our party, the moment has arrived that, the cut will be 70 percent of our wage during the state of alarm. We will also help out the club in order for the workers to be paid 100 percent of their wages."