The latest Lionel Messi news on his future at Barcelona is worrying for all Barcelona fans.
Messi leaving Barcelona is not something we can even contemplate, even though we know one day it will happen.
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But we might have to start thinking about it, as the latest Lionel Messi news update is not a great one if you’d like to see the Argentine superstar stay at the Nou Camp.
According to Catalan radio stadium RAC1 (who Messi has spoken to exclusively on numerous occasions in the past) Messi returned early from his planned vacation to meet with new Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman who was unveiled on Wednesday.
According to the report, Messi told Koeman that is having serious doubts about his future at Barcelona as the legendary figure has been critical of the board, his teammates and just about everybody else in-between over the last 12 months. After collapsing at Roma and Liverpool in shocking fashion in recent Champions League campaigns, the latest debacle saw Barca obliterated by Bayern Munich and that was the last straw for many. Messi included, perhaps.
The report believes Messi’s current mindset is that he is “more out of the club than in it.”
Can you blame him? Their humiliating Champions League exit at the hands of Bayern Munich was the culmination of muddled managerial choices, a haphazard transfer policy and years of patching up their veterans players, then hoping Messi would save them.
He often did, but he seems more than fed up with the situation and that’s fair enough. Rumblings that Messi has too much control in team matters have been rife in recent months and that only seems to have riled him further.
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Messi, 33, has been at Barcelona his entire career and his current contract runs until the summer of 2021. Barcelona have a $825 million release clause in his contract, so it’s unlikely he will leave this summer as even the two clubs he’s linked with (Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City) can’t pay that kind of transfer fee. But will Barcelona really stand in his way if he wants to leave?
For everything that Messi has done for Barcelona, you’d think they would find an acceptable solution to let him leave this summer if he wants to. Now, business is business and Messi isn’t exactly best mates with current Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu who many people attribute their current downfall to. That means Messi will likely remain at Barcelona but if he doesn’t see his future at the Nou Camp, will we see the same Lionel Messi who has been the hero for Barca time and time again? Bartomeu will no longer been in charge by the spring of 2021 after the next presidential election at the Catalan club, so maybe Messi will decide to see how that turns out and if real change will arrive under Koeman.
He’s won everything with Barcelona, won six Ballon d’Or’s and will always be a legend at the club, no matter what happens in the next 12 months. There is a growing sense that Man City, PSG and many even clubs further afield are growing more confident that finally Messi will leave Barcelona and not spend his entire career at the club.
Koeman, Bartomeu and the whole of Barcelona will spend the next few months trying to convince Messi that he should stay at the Nou Camp but there’s no doubt that the noises coming from those around Messi suggest he could be ready to check out.
