Lionel Messi has told Barcelona he wants to leave the Spanish club immediately. It said the Argentinian – widely considered to be the best footballer ever – expressed his desire to leave in a fax.
The 33-year-old, who has spent his entire career at the club after joining in 2000 as a youth player, has a contract with the Catalans until 2021.
While Barcelona claim he is the subject of a €700m (£630m) buy-out clause, Messi’s representatives reportedly believe a clause in his contract means he can leave for free.
It is unclear where the player might move to if he does leave, but the likely transfer fee and his salary mean very few clubs could afford him. The list of potential destinations is made even smaller by the drop in revenue caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
It is believed only clubs with wealthy benefactors whose fortunes have been affected less by the impact of COVID-19, will be among his possible options.
The announcement comes eleven days after his side’s humiliating 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals, one of the worst in the player’s career and in the club’s history.
That loss capped a difficult season for Barcelona – the first without a title since 2007-08 – and has ignited one of its worst-ever crises.
He has won a record six Ballon d’Or awards during his time at Barcelona, while helping the club win 10 Spanish league titles and four Champions League crowns.
As the news began to emerge that Messi wished to leave, fans marched to the club’s home stadium to voice their frustration with the club for their role in his decision.
With an emergency board meeting in progress inside, fans gathered chanting “Messi stay” and “Bartomeu resign”.
Another former president, Joan Laport, called on Bartomeu to resign as he demanded the club do whatever it takes to keep Messi in Barcelona.
“Bartomeu and his Board must resign immediately,” Laport said on Twitter. “They have been undermining the morale of Messi to save themselves from the economic and sporting turmoil they have created. If they resigned there would still be hope that Messi would stay at Barca.”
Harry Maguire withdrawn from England squad
Harry Maguire has been withdrawn from England’s squad for next month’s Nations League matches after being found guilty of three charges by a Greek court.
Maguire had initially been named in England’s squad for the September fixtures, but later on Tuesday the Manchester United captain was given a 21-month suspended prison sentence after being found guilty of aggravated assault, resisting arrest and repeated attempts of bribery.
“In light of this evening’s developments, I can confirm I have withdrawn Harry Maguire from the England squad for the matches against Iceland and Denmark,” England coach, Gareth Southgate said in a statement.
“As I said earlier today, I reserved the right to review the situation. Having spoken to Manchester United and the player, I have made this decision in the best interests of all parties and with consideration of the impact on our preparations for next week.”
Manchester United said that the player would be appealing against the sentence.
