Barcelona already have Messi's retirement plans in place

Whilst Lionel Messi may still have several years left to give Barcelona, the club's president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, has stated that the club is already planning for life after his retirement.

Bartomeu stated in an interview with Eurosport that he will be playing for Barcelona for "the next coming two, three, four or five years".

However, he also added that Barcelona are currently scouting other players from abroad that will be ready to fill in the giant boots that the Argentine will have left.

The president said that there are "players are coming that, are from abroad, but also players that are coming from our B team, that are pushing from La Masia, very hard to the first team and we are very happy, because we are preparing for this, era post-Messi."

Lionel Messi has had some troublesome injuries over the last few years that have forced him out of plenty of matches, leading to Ernesto Valverde having to set up Barcelona without the Argentine consistently for the first time in a long time.

So far this season, Messi has only played ten matches in all competitions, yet he has still managed to score six goals and provide five assists in the process.

In the past few seasons, he has had forearm fractures, foot injuries, and even torn muscles, forcing Barcelona to play on without him, which has led to the emergence of other stars, such as Ansu Fati, from the B team.

Barcelona have also gone on to buy other star names to prepare for his retirement, such as Antoine Griezmann.

Barcelona are hoping to bounce back from defeat to Levante, with a win against Celta Vigo this weekend.