Lionel Messi. @barcacentar Twitter
I want to leave: Lionel Messi hands in Barca transfer request
Speculation over Messi’s future has reached fever pitch after a disastrous 2020 for the Catalan giants which saw them surrender their La Liga title to arch-rivals Real Madrid, and an 8-2 mauling at the hands of Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Lionel Messi. @barcacentar Twitter
Lionel Messi’s two-decades at Barcelona appears to be coming to an inauspicious end after the six-time Ballon d’Or winning forward told the Catalan giants that he wants to leave the club.
Messi expressed his desire to leave the Barcelona immediately after twenty years at the only professional club he has ever represented.
The legendary 33-year-old superstar reportedly sent a burofax, a rapid communications system used in Spain that includes third-party proof of delivery, expressing his desire to leave, according to multiple reports coming out of Spain.
His Barcelona contract is set to expire at the end of the 2020-21 season.
The burofax reportedly referenced a clause in Messi’s contract that allowed him to leave with immediate effect.
According to reports, however, Barcelona claim the clause needed to be activated before June 10, but Messi’s camp argues that the clause is still valid because the season had to be extended due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Messi made his debut for Barca in 2004 and has won the Champions League four times.
The last straw
The demand comes a week and a half after Barca suffered a humiliating 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League, the Catalan club’s worst defeat in almost 80 years.
The club fired head coach Quique Setien shortly after the loss and have since appointed former Dutch national team coach Ronald Koeman — also a former Barca player — as his replacement.
One club player
Messi joined Barcelona’s youth academy in 2000 and made his professional debut with the club in 2004 when he was 17 years old. He has made 731 appearances for the club, rattling in 634 goals and recording 285 assists.
He has won 10 Spanish league and six Spanish cup titles as well as four Champions League titles with Barcelona — including two trebles in 2008-09 and 2014-15.
He has picked up six Ballon d’Ors, which honors the world’s top football player, during his glittering career.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers in history, Messi would fit into practically any team on the globe – but the Argentine’s presumed wage demands and signing-on fee would limit his potential list of destination to one of a handful of ‘superclubs’ across Europe.
