Barcelona’s financial and strategy director Pancho Schroder would not be surprised if a rival club was tempted to pay the £625m release clause in Lionel Messi’s contract.
Messi signed a new deal last November but Schroder feels Neymar’s world-record departure for PSG a few months earlier shows anything can happen in the world of football transfers.
Speaking at a Finance in Sport event in London, Schroder told SSN: “We set up a clause which we think is enough to have Messi retire at FC Barcelona.
“But having said that, we thought a year ago that the clause for Neymar was also good enough to retain the player, and that proved last summer not to be the case.
“Looking at the future, I think, is difficult, but I don’t have a crystal ball and these days things are getting a little bit crazy.”
