Barcelona president Bartomeu hints they won't block Messi leaving

Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has defended the buyout clause for Lionel Messi's new deal.

It's been claimed included in the Argentine's new contract will be a €300m buyout clause - which could leave Barca open to losing their star in similar fashion to Neymar's €222m move to PSG.

But Bartomeu reasoned: "In Barça, we have a mode of operation that is unique to us.

"We think that if the player is with us, it is to play and be performing. Whether the clause is 500, 600, 1000 or 1500 million euros, it does not matter, because if the player wants to leave, we will sit down to talk and see how he will do it.

"We should have done this with Neymar, it would have been better for everyone."