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Barcelona can afford to sell Lionel Messi now: Johan Cruyff

With Brazilian star Neymar joining Barcelona this summer, Johan Cruyff believes Barcelona should consider selling Lionel Messi.

Cruyff believes, it could prove risky for Barcelona, as they are building a team around two star players. Cruyff, has represented the Catalan Club 143 times, scoring 48 goals, and managed them until 1996.

The Dutch legend would be highly criticized for his comment given that Messi has been among their top scorers with no less than 215 goals in 246 games at Barcelona, but is also pretty adamant that there could be a clash if the Argentine and Neymar join forces. After all too many cooks spoil the food.

“With Neymar on board, I would have planned for the possibility of selling Messi, and some would agree with that, others not,” Cruyff told Spanish newspaper Marca.

“You are talking about a team, its players, the things around it. There are too many things at stake. That’s why it’s so difficult to manage such a top class squad.

Asked if he would have signed Neymar in the first place, Cruyff added: “No, I wouldn’t have signed Neymar. We’ll have to wait and see – it could turn out well or badly. It’s a risk.

“Or the fact that Neymar and Barcelona are with Nike while Leo is with Adidas. These are situations that could cause problems.

“We’ll have to wait and see. He is talented but we’ll have to see how he gets on with everyone – that’s a problem.”

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