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Mane & Salah won’t replace Messi at Barcelona, says Barnes

Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah
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Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah can’t replace Lionel Messi at Barcelona due to their contrasting styles, says John Barnes.

Messi wants out of Barcelona this summer and is seemingly determined despite the club’s wishes to keep him.

His father, Jorge, has arrived in Catalonia to begin talks with president Josep Maria Bartomeu, leaving fans on the edge of their seats awaiting further updates on the Argentine’s future.

But should Messi indeed leave, Barcelona will be left with the unenviable task of replacing him.

Liverpool stars Mane and Salah have both been touted as potential replacements according to reports, with the former favorite.

Barnes, though, can’t see the logic in Barcelona pursuing either one of Liverpool’s forwards as their style of play is completely different from Messi.

“You can’t replace Lionel Messi,” said the Reds legend told BonusCodeBets.

“Barcelona can’t replace him with Sadio Mane or Mohamed Salah because they are different types of players, you’ll have to come up with a different solution to how you want to play and whether Ronald Koeman would like that type of player, we don’t know.

“You can’t look to replace Messi with one player, it’s impossible as there is no player like him. What he has to do is come up with a formula, you can’t replace Messi like-for-like, so I don’t think that’s going to be an issue for Liverpool.”

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