Manchester City (as well as Inter Milan, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain or any other club that might be interested) have suffered a setback in their potential pursuit of Lionel Messi. La Liga has sided with the Argentine superstar’s club, FC Barcelona, and against the individual player, in what is becoming a very bitter contract dispute.
Messi is refusing to play for the Catalan club ever again, but the governing bodies of the Spanish top flight say he will not be able to leave Barca on a free.
La Liga side with Barcelona in Messi contract dispute, saying his current deal still valid and paying release clause only way out pic.twitter.com/USudIXOTtY
— Samuel Marsden (@samuelmarsden) August 30, 2020
In an official statement released just a couple hours ago, La Liga declared that the only way Lionel Messi can leave Barcelona is if another club pays his €700 million ($833m) release clause.
Needless to say, is to next to impossible that any club can or will pay that. The all-time record ever paid for a player was Neymar, coincidentally sold by Barcelona, to PSG for €222m in 2017. Messi is reportedly holding out of team activities, including COVID-19 testing and that means he’ll miss player training as well.
By law, no player who isn’t in the clear regarding coronavirus testing may partake in training, which means he’ll miss Monday’s session.
On Tuesday, Messi submitted official documentation to the Camp Nou that he wants out via exercising a release clause in his contract that allows him to leave the club for free at the end of each season.
The clause was reportedly set to expire on May 30, 2020, but Messi and his representation believe it should be extended, much like out-of-contract players’ deals were extended upon the restart of the season after the COVID pause.
It looks like we’re in for a very lengthy legal battle, and this Barca-Messi divorce could get really ugly before it gets settled.
According to reports, Messi is not interested in moving to PSG, but instead only wants a reunion with manager Pep Guardiola at Man City.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
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