Messi senior arrived early on Wednesday morning, nine days after Lionel dropped the sporting bombshell by confirming that he wanted to leave Barcelona.
Barcelona's Argentine forward Lionel Messi. (Photo by LLUIS GENE / AFP)
Lionel Messi’a father Jorge, who is also the veteran footballer’s agent, grabbed the headlines as he reached Barcelona to meet club president Josep Bartomeu and discuss his son’s future there.
Messi senior arrived in the Catalan town early on Wednesday to reach an agreement with the FC Barcelona. In what has been the biggest development of the football world, Messi has already expressed his wish to leave his childhood club where he had arrived at the age of 13.
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Emerging from a scrum of reporters at Barcelona’s ‘El Prat airport, Jorge Messi gave little away, except saying that he “didn’t know anything”, before adding that Lionel’s future at the club was “difficult”, reported IANS.
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Barcelona confirmed last week that Messi notified them about his desire to leave the Catalan club via burofax, a service used in Spain to urgently dispatch a document that requires proof to third parties.
Making his stance clearer, the 33-year-old forward did not appear on Sunday for the PCR tests ahead of Barca’s return to training on Monday. He has also not attended any of the training sessions under new coach Ronald Koeman, meaning he is now in open rebellion with the club.
However, Barcelona have maintained that Messi’s contract had a clause that allowed him to move out of the club for free, but it needed to be activated by June 10. According to the management at Camp Nou, the only way he would be allowed to depart now is by paying the release clause of 700 million euros.
The lawyers of the six-time Ballon d’Or winners, on the other hand, argue that the clause doesn’t refer to a specific date but to 10 days after the end of the 2019-20 season.
European season generally ends of May 30. But, due to coronavirus pandemic, the last season ended last week with the final of Champions League being played on August 23.
Thus, Messi’s lawyers believe that the Argentine captain was in his legal right on wanting to leave.
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