Barcelona look set to hold onto their prized asset, Lionel Messi, at least for another season.
According to transfer guru and sports journalist, Fabrizio Romano, Barcelona’s star player, will not leave the club this summer transfer window.
Leo Messi to make it official: he’s going to stay at Barcelona on next season after the club refusing to sell him for less than €700m. 🔴 #Messi #FCB #Barcelona https://t.co/o6FDNretUg
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) September 4, 2020
Lionel Messi has been at Barcelona since 2003 and has gone on to win several personal and team awards over the years he has been at the club.
Messi’s expression of his desire to leave Barcelona sent shockwaves through the world of football and left fans of the Spanish giants scrambling.
Frustrated by recent goings-on at the club and humiliated by Barcelona’s 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich, Messi wants out immediately.
The player cited a clause in his contract which allows him to leave Barcelona for free at the end of every season but Barcelona, unwilling to let their star asset leave so easily, claim the clause expired in June, and any potential buyer would have to pay Messi’s astronomical £623million release clause.
The situation has become so heated that even La Liga has jumped in, siding with the club in the dispute, with suggestions that the league is desperate not to lose Messi, a few years after Cristiano Ronaldo switched camps to the Italian Serie A.
His father, Jorge Messi has also come out to state that his son does not have a release clause in his current and could leave Barcelona for free, disputing claims by the club and La Liga.