The world changed yesterday for FC Barcelona fans when the news broke that the club's Argentinian star, Leo Messi, had sent a burofax to the board to announce that he wants to take off the Barça shirt for good. A decision that seems irreversible, with talks reported to be underway with Pep Guardiola's Manchester City. It was initially speculated that the club's president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, could step down.
However, today, in the presentation of new Barça signing Francisco Trincao, Bartomeu was silent. He avoided commenting on the future of Messi, and nor did he say anything about his intention to remain at the helm of the entire Barça entity. However, as radio network SER has leaked, Bartomeu is clear on the next step. His intention is to go beyond communication by burofax and talk directly this Wednesday to the player who has been the undisputed centre of the Barça universe for the last decade.
The need to make a deal
The earthquake precipitated by the departure of Messi from Can Barça could end with a courtroom battle. This is because the Argentinian's contract has a clause allowing him to leave freely at the end of each season, but it expired on June 10th. For this reason, the Barça club has reminded the striker that if he wants to leave for another club, his new team must be able to pay the termination clause, which is around 700 million euros.
From the Messi camp, the argument is that in this coronavirus-altered year, the football season has been as atypical and exceptional as everything else, meaning that many contracts have already had to be extended so that the final rounds of both the Spanish league could be played, not to mention almost the entire Champions' League knock-out phase. In the face of this exceptional situation, the clause allowing the six-times Ballon d'Or winner to leave the club for free should remain in force, it is argued.
So far, it has seemed that neither side wants to give in, but there are indications that Barça is willing to negotiate. At the end of the day, the player has said he doesn't want to play. And although the team's new coach Koeman has stressed that he wants Messi on his team, he has also said, unsurprisingly, that his players must want to give their all. "A thirty-year-old player isn't finished; you have to know if he's hungry," said the Dutch manager. Time will tell if such practical considerations end up being determinant: seven hundred million euros is a lot of money.