Barcelona look to replace Lionel Messi with swap deal for superstar

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Paulo Dybala has a serious problem for club and country where he’s dwarfed by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, so it’s time for him to break out and be the main star in his own right.

Ironically that could even happen in Barcelona as a potential replacement for Messi as Calciomercato report that Barca want to engineer a swap deal for Dybala by sending Antoine Griezmann to Juventus.

Initially that looks like Barca would be getting the much better end of that deal, but Dybala’s contract does run out in 2022 and it’s confirmed that an extension isn’t forthcoming for now so that does reduce his market value.

It also looks like Messi is going to move on this summer, so Barca will need to find a way to replace him.

READ MORE: Lionel Messi open to staying at Barcelona for another year – but he wants this player sold

Realistically that process needs to involve signing two or three players to pick up the slack rather than putting that burden on one man, but there are so many similarities with Messi and Dybala when you consider their nationality, their left footedness and their playing style so it could work.

Losing Griezmann would open up a hole through the middle of the attack so another striker would be needed, but it’s easy to see a front three of Ansu Fati, Dybala and big-name striker causing havoc with Pedri and de Jong pulling the strings from midfield.

Could Dybala really step up to replace Messi for Barcelona and Argentina?

It does sound like Juve could be open to this move but Griezmann’s wages and age are seen as an issue, so it’s likely that Cristiano Ronaldo would also need to leave to free up some space on the wage bill.

It’s even suggested that tentative enquiries have been made although nothing is remotely close to happening just now, but it’s easy to see both Dybala and Griezmann being on the move this summer.

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