Messi Asks to Leave Barcelona, What’s Next?
By: Vanessa Fabian
Lionel Messi’s intentions are as clear as water and it appears that in the next days FC Barcelona will be losing its most iconic player. The 33-year-old player has spent his entire career in this club and is now a legend in the history of soccer. After the humiliating loss, FC Barcelona had against FC Bayern München, with a final match result of 2-8, rumors began to spread regarding Messi’s desire to leave the club. Due to the embarrassment the team had just gone through, the club decided to let go of the team coach Quique Setién and assigned Ronald Koeman to this duty. Not long after the announcement of Koeman’s designation as coach, Messi had already communicated the uncertainty of his future in the club and his desire to continue his career somewhere else.
On Aug. 20, 2020 Messi sent a burofax to the club in which he made the petition to leave the team hoping to end his story with Barcelona in the best terms possible. Even though he made it clear that his desire to leave is due to personal reasons, it has been noticed that recent decisions made by the club are just not to his liking. In the burofax sent to the club, Messi mentions that he would like to end his contract with the club. He would enforce the clause in his contract signed back in 2017, which stipulates he would be able to leave the club as a free transfer player. Soon after the burofax was received by the club, speculations began regarding the above-mentioned clause, as it would no longer be able to come into effect due to its expiration on June 10, 2020. In the case the clause would no longer be valid, any club Messi would decide to continue his career in would have to pay 700 million euros to release the clause. It has been said that Messi’s lawyers are fighting against this claim, as the player firmly believes that due to the current pandemic the season’s normal timings were altered making his clause still effective.
Even though whether the clause can still be active, it is being questioned what club would be able to afford Messi’s 90 million yearly salary. When the player’s desires to leave FC Barcelona were spread out, the English football club Manchester City expressed his strong interest in Messi. The player’s future is uncertain, but he has several options he can take into consideration before deciding which club to continue his career in to end his contract in 2021. However, it looks like Messi has opted out from this option. On Aug. 23, 2020, the players were supposed to show up for the preseason COVID-19 testing along with practice, but Messi was a no show. It seems that Lionel Messi has taken a decision and his story with the Catalan club has come to an end. If negotiations move forward with Manchester City, Messi will reunite with Pep Guardiola, his former coach in FC Barcelona.
Fans have united outside Camp Nou, hoping to change Messi’s decision, by asking for the resignation of FC Barcelona’s president Josep Maria Bartomeu. They believe that maybe with a change in the club’s management, Messi will continue to play in the club he once desired to end his career in. Lionel Messi is a six-time Player of the Year and five-time Golden Ball winner, regardless of the decision he takes, he will remain as an all-time iconic player in the history of soccer.