Lionel Messi Transfer News Latest Update: Argentina Star Ready to Stay at Barcelona for Another Season
With La Liga ruling in favour of Barcelona club and stating that the release clause was still in place, Messi has been left short of options. Manchester City are still interested in signing him but nowhere close to paying the humongous release clause fee. They offered three players in addition to a 100m Pounds which was rejected.
Lionel Messi is considering staying at Barcelona for another season to avoid a legal battle with the club and harm his reputation among the fans. Messi had put in a transfer request last week and informed the club through a burofax of his intention to leave this summer. The Argentine had also reportedly signed a five-year mega-deal with Manchester City and was ready to move to the Premier League. His camp had claimed that Messi would be leaving Barcelona as a free agent after exercising a clause in his contract that allows him to leave for free at the end of each football season. Lionel Messi Transfer Latest News Live Update.
Messi had a particular clause in his current Barcelona contract, which expires next June, that allows the Argentine to leave Barcelona as a free agent at the end of each season given he informs the club at least 20 days prior to the end of the campaign. Messi’s representatives in the burofax stated that the player was activating the clause and will leave this summer. Lionel Messi to Stay at Camp Nou? No Agreement as Jorge Messi Father of Argentina Star Meets Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu.
But Barcelona stalled the move and have insisted that the clause had already expired in June prior to the end of the 2019-20 season, which came to an end with the Champions League final. Messi informed the club of his desire to leave two weeks later. The club and Messi have since come at loggerheads with each other with both sides unwilling to leave their ground. Messi’s camp had also claimed that his 700m Euros release clause had expired last season even as Barcelona demanded that any club willing to sign the Argentine this summer must pay the buy-out clause.
But with La Liga ruling in favour of the club and stating that the release clause was still in place, Messi has been left short of options. Manchester City are still interested in signing him but nowhere close to paying his humongous release clause. The Premier League club had reportedly offered three players, including Eric Garcia and Bernardo Silva, in addition to a 100m Pounds to Barcelona which was rejected.
Barcelona have also threatened to take Messi – if he leaves as a free agent – and any club that signs him without paying the release clause to court and will start a legal battle against the player and the club involved. That has left Messi without any option but to remain at Camp Nou for another season. The Argentine is also reluctant in pursuing a legal battle having already seen the dirt Neymar was involved in after PSG paid his release clause in 2017.
Neymar not only got into a long-drawn legal battle with Barcelona but also lost the support of the club faithful for his unpleasant departure. Messi is reluctant to follow the same path and lose the love and trust of the fans he has earned after 20 years of service to the club. Fans, both in Barcelona and across the world, have protested against Barcelona’s lack of empathy toward their star player and called for president Bartomeu to resign immediately.
But with time slowly running away and any transfer looking impossible for now, Messi could stay at Barcelona. His father and agent Jorge Messi has been meeting Bartomeu to resolve the matter and come to a conclusion.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 04, 2020 01:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).