Lionel Messi leaving Barcelona: Luis Suarez tells club ‘not to worry about common sense’ and do whatever it takes to keep star man at the Nou Camp
The Argentinian has been linked with Manchester United and Man City after stalling on new deal
LUIS SUAREZ has told Barcelona to do whatever it takes to keep Lionel Messi at the club.
The Argentinian superstar is locked in contract talks - but they appeared to turn south when Barca CEO Oscar Grau admitted the club may not be able to afford him.
Grau admitted: "We have to be very strict with the budgets, we can’t go crazy."
He added that Barcelona are "keeping a cool head and not losing common sense."
Some have said the words could just be a negotiating tactic for Messi to lower his demands.
But the news has left Manchester United and Manchester City on red alert for a player who will go down as one of the best of all-time.
Messi's superstar team-mate Luis Suarez has called on Barcelona to do whatever it takes to keep their all-time record goalscorer.
Suarez, who scored his 100th goal for Barcelona in record time in the 3-1 win over Athletic Bilbao Wednesday night, directly rebuffed Grau's words.
"Messi is the best player in the world," he told .
"What you have to do is renew [the contract], not have common sense."
Messi, 29, is one of the top-paid players in the world, with a weekly salary that tops £360,000 after tax.
However, Suarez and Neymar have just signed bumper new deals, that leave Barca close to breaking Uefa FFP rules.
Grau added: "We need to comply with the ratios of debt and the percentage of salaries in the budget. I want the best player in history to remain here.
"We will find the way, I am sure, but we have to make the numbers add up.";
City are prepared to go all out to land the star.
They would be willing to pay a £100million transfer fee and give Messi an eye-watering, record-breaking £800,000-a-week.