Ivan Rakitic to Man Utd, But Messi gets a fine

Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde has seemingly left the door open for Ivan Rakitic to join Manchester United.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side are thought to have shown interest in the Croatia international, who could replace Paul Pogba should he be offloaded this summer.

Rakitic, 31, has two years remaining on his current contract but Valverde wouldn’t assure him of regular first-team action.

“Rakitic has been an important player, I don’t know if it will be this season,” he said. “New players are coming and he will have to earn it.”

In other news, Lionel Messi has been banned for one game and fined £1200.

The Argentina captain was sent off against Chile and afterwards alleged that the tournament had been fixed in favour of Brazil, who beat Argentina in a controversial semi-final on their way to claiming the title.

Messi called the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) “corrupt” and did not attend the ceremony to pick up his medal.

CONMEBOL said on Tuesday that Messi’s comments were “unacceptable” but backed down from imposing a tougher sanction on the five-times world player of the year.

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