Barcelona chief explains £53m transfer budget plans and predicts Lionel Messi will sign more deals

Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu claims the La Liga giants only plan to spend €60m (£53m, $74m) plus the money generated from potential sales in the upcoming summer transfer window.

Manager Ernesto Valverde broke the bank in his first summer at the club to bring in Paulinho, Nelson Semedo, Gerard Deulofeu and Ousmane Dembele in order to fill the gap left by the shock departure of Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain.

Barcelona enjoyed an impressive opening half of the season but decided to further bolster the squad in January with the €11.8m arrival of Yerry Mina from Palmeiras and the €160m club record addition of Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool.

Sport has claimed that the Catalans are also set to complete the signing of Arthur Melo from Gremio ahead of January 2019, having already reached an agreement in principle worth €30m plus €10m in add-ons.

Mundo Deportivo meanwhile has been reporting that Barcelona are also considering meeting Antoine Griezman's €100m release clause at Atletico Madrid to form a fearsome attacking trident with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.

But Bartomeu has suggested that Valverde's transfer budget for the summer will be only €60m plus the money generated by potential sales, pointing out that they only broke the bank during the last two windows because of the €222m received from Neymar's departure to Paris Saint-Germain.

"I would like to say [that the market] it's going to stay [at this level] but I'm not sure about this because, you know, more and more clubs belong to very rich people and to countries, which are investing a lot of money in football," Bartomeu said, as quoted by Barcelona's website during an interview with Bloomberg.

"This season we invested more because of Neymar's exit, but our strategic plan is to invest €60m more than we get from transfers. It's more and more difficult to go to the market and bring the best players to our club... our objective is to go for young players, teach them our football and bring them to our first team."

"One of the objectives of the club is to earn money every year, of course, because we have to reinvest that money in players and real estate. At the youth academy, La Masia, the main objective is to create new players and to teach them not only as players, but also as people."

The Catalans also made a huge financial effort recently to commit the long-term future of Lionel Messi to the Nou Camp with new deal until 2021 - which includes a mammoth €700m release clause.

But the Barcelona president predicts that the 30-year-old forward has not signed his last deal at the La Liga giants, pointing out that the Argentine and Andres Iniesta continue to be two examples for the club.

"We want to play good football, practice it in a unique way, and Leo Messi is our key player.

"Andrés Iniesta is an example. We want him here not just as a player, but as a legend. And I hope it's the same with Messi. He has a four-year deal, but I don't think it will be his last deal."