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Johan Cruyff: Barcelona should have sold Lionel Messi to make way for £50m Neymar
FORMER Barcelona star Johan Cruyff has suggested that the Catalan club should have considered selling Lionel Messi following the arrival of Brazil prodigy Neymar this summer.
Neymar secured his switch to the Nou Camp earlier this month, for a fee worth around the £50million mark.
And while the Brazilian's arrival at Barcelona - having snubbed interest from the Premier League - has been lauded by many, Cruyff believes the La Liga outfit should have thought about selling Messi to accommodate the younger star.
"It could," answered Cruyff to Spanish sports paper Marca over whether Neymar's signing could cause problems in the Barca dressing room.
"It's like the free kicks. Neymar is very good at taking them. And Messi has already shown he is. Who's going to take them? Or the fact that Neymar and Barcelona are with Nike while Leo is with Adidas. These are situations that could cause problems.
"With Neymar on board, I would have planned for the possibility of selling Messi, and some would agree with that, others not. 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."
Cruyff did admit he would not have signed the 21-year-old former Santos star if it was up to him, saying: "No, I wouldn't have signed Neymar."