The 56-year-old also says it will be interesting to see if Luis Enrique's side will keep hold of their top stars and feels the Catalan giants have real problems in defence
Barcelona are certain to receive plenty of offers for
Lionel Messi and
Neymar and may find it hard to turn them down, according to former Chile coach Jorge Sampaoli.
The future of both players has been the subject of much debate this season and Sampoli feels off-pitch troubles could be having an effect on the duo.
"Recently they [Barcelona] have become a team that is too individualistic," he toldAS. "It may also be the case that the off the field issues affecting Messi and Neymar are affecting them on the pitch.
"The most serious issue, though, is that they struggle in defence. They let in goals almost every match.
"Of course [they have Messi]. And Neymar. We’ll soon see if they manage to keep them both because offers will definitely arrive and it will be hard to turn them all down."
Sampaoli, who like Messi, hails from Rosario, also revealed that everyone in town had heard of him by the time he was nine.
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"Of course, we all did. He was eight or nine years old and playing against 14 and 15 year olds," he added.
"He was spectacular. They would only play him ten minutes so that the opponents didn’t suffer too much."
But Sampaoli was not willing to say the Barcelona star is better than Argentina legend Diego Maradona.
"It's tough to compare two players from two different eras," he explained.
"The difference for me is that Maradona played more of an amateur-style, of pure passion. Messi is more professional."
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