Faus: Messi, Neymar or Suarez could leave Barcelona

Barcelona economic vice-president Javier Faus has conceded that the club could lose Lionel Messi, Neymar or Luis Suarez to richer rivals such as Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain.

The 51-year-old Catalan says that the Blaugrana have every intention of keeping the prolific attacking trio together for the foreseeable future but conceded that the Liga leaders are not in a position to the match the salaries now on offer at the likes of Stamford Bridge and the Parc des Princes.

"We can no longer pay the most in terms of wages," Faus told German publication Handelsblatt. "That's now Chelsea and PSG.

"You have to understand that players [in Spain] always compare their net pay to those of the Premier League or the Bundesliga, who have pushed costs up dramatically.

"It will be a challenge but we want to avoid letting Messi, Neymar or Suarez go.

"But if a club has the potential to take them away because of their chequebook, then they will go.

"The players have a very short career and are entitled to charge what other clubs can pay for their services."

Faus, of course, infamously clashed with Messi in December 2013 when he claimed that the Argentina international had demanded a pay rise.

The diminutive forward denied that accusation and countered by stating that the Blaugrana director "does not know anything about football".

However, despite the very public spat, Faus insists that the pair now enjoy a mutually beneficial working relationship.

"Messi is right: I do not understand football," he added. "It was just a misunderstanding that we clarified with his father and him.

"Then, we agreed a new contract and now we have a kind of partnership: we help him increase his market value and he helps us to project the Barca brand. "

Messi the best in the world, but my goals were more beautiful - Maradona

Diego Maradona says Lionel Messi is currently the best player in the world, but insists his own goals were “more beautiful” than those of the Barcelona star.

The Argentine legend, who played for the Catalan club, as well as the likes of Napoli and Boca Juniors during a glittering career, is often been labelled as the greatest ever to play the sport.

And while he believes his countryman is the best there is in the modern game, rating him above Real Madrid ace Cristiano Ronaldo, he says that Messi is still developing as a footballer.

“I think the goals come with the style. I think Messi is finding his own style, but he is killing it with the goals. This makes you accelerate the pace. Most likely, he will find his style very soon,” Maradona told CNN.

“I think that I had my own style from the very beginning, so that is the point at which I could be better than Messi. But Messi has scored 300 goals, whereas I think I scored a little over 200 in my whole career.

“But the thing is, my goals were more beautiful!”

Messi scored two goals in Barcelona’s 5-3 aggregate victory over Bayern Munich, which saw them book a spot in the Champions League final against Juventus.