Barcelona have an alternative summer roadmap in place if Messi does not return

Barcelona are still waiting for La Liga’s approval of their economic viability plan. It was initially expected that the green light would be arriving this week, but there have been delays as the league asked for fresh documents with updated accounts after the exit of Jordi Alba was confirmed and new sponsors were brought on.

According to Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona’s top priority once they receive the approval from La Liga would be to complete the contract registrations of Gavi and Ronald Araujo.

Beyond that, another top priority for the Blaugrana is to facilitate the re-signing of former captain Lionel Messi.

The Argentine will become a free agent in the summer as his contract with PSG expires. The Blaugrana are pushing hard to bring him back to the club, but are facing competition from Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia, who are willing to offer him a massive deal worth €500 million per year.

While the Catalans are in no position to compete with such offers, they are hopeful that Messi’s desire to continue in Europe for one more year could help them re-sign him.

But, if the move does not transpire, the report states that the Blaugrana have an alternative roadmap in place for the summer transfer window.

Essentially, Barcelona have a Plan A with Messi at the centre of it and his arrival would dictate their other targets, based on factors such as the Fair Play margin available.

But, in case they are unable to bring him back, the La Liga champions have a Plan B in their back pocket.

Previously it has been suggested that Messi’s non-arrival might leave the Catalans with enough room economically to go after primary pivot target Martin Zubimendi.

However, at the moment, Barcelona are not even entertaining the thought of having to fall back on their Plan B as they remain very confident about bringing Messi back to the club.