Barcelona could be forced to sell at leastone of their bigger star names, if they are to tie superstars Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta down to new contracts.
The Argentine forward's deal with the Catalan giants expires in 18 months' time, and the Barcelona hierarchy are desperate to hand the 29-year-old fresh terms to ward off interest from the likes of Manchester City.
However, after handing new deals to Messi's fellow strikers in Luis Suarez and Neymar, the club are already extremely close to the 70% limit that La Liga clubs are duty bound to uphold on wage expenditure costs.
With Barcelona not wanting to invoke any sanctions from Spain's top flight. Marca has now reported that Luis Enrique could be forced to part with a star name in a bit to reduce the wage bill at the Camp Nou and, in turn, be able to afford a new contract for Messi.
Barcelona's hopes of somehow circumventing such an issue has also been hampered by the news that veteran playmaker Iniesta wishes to extend his stay in Catalonia - a revelation that may coerce the Blaugrana into dispensing with a first-team squad member earlier than expected.
The desire to retain both Messi and Iniesta has led to rumours that Barcelona are willing to listen to offers for the likes of Ivan Rakitic, Arda Turan,Aleix Vidal andJeremy Mathieu,.
Lionel Messi has now scored 29 goals in 27 games for Barcelona across all competitions this season.
Brilliant form. pic.twitter.com/UJ4AMFJgDn
It is Turan who is the most likely to depart the Camp Nou imminently, with numerous clubs in China's Super League determined to tempt the Turkey international away from Europe with the promise of massive wages in the Far East.
Rakitic's future at Barcelona was alsocalled into question recently after the Croat has seemingly fallen down the pecking orderin Enrique's plans behind Andre Gomes and Ivan Rakitic.
If Barcelona were to sell one or moreof the star players, it would not be the first time that the reigning La Liga champions have been pushed to do so. Premier League clubs Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City have all been the beneficiaries of Barcelona's cast-offs in recent seasons, with the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Yaya ToureCesc Fabregas and Claudio Bravo all leaving Spain for England in the past few seasons.
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