Lionel Messi’s father, Jorge, is confident his son is no longer tied to the €700-million release clause written into the Barcelona deal he signed in 2017.

Jorge, who also acts as his son’s agent, quoted what he believes is a crucial passage in the contract’s paperwork in a letter to La Liga president Javier Tebas.

It reads: “This compensation will not apply when the resolution of the contract, by the unilateral decision of the player, takes effect from the end of the 2019-20 sporting season,” as translated by ESPN’s Moises Llorens and Alex Kirkland.

“It’s obvious that the compensation of €700 million … does not apply at all,” Jorge concluded.

The letter was written in response to one issued by La Liga last Sunday, which strongly supported Barcelona’s side of the rift. It’s widely believed Messi was able to terminate his contract at the club by June 10, but the fact that he sent his request to leave on Aug. 25 meant his option had expired and Barcelona can reject any offers under €700 million for Messi.

Messi’s representatives argued their client should’ve been granted an extended deadline due to the prolonged season. However, the player’s father said the contract doesn’t specify a date by which the release clause must be exercised, only that it must be done at the end of the 2019-20 campaign, according to BBC Sport.

Barcelona remain convinced Messi will be their player for the 2020-21 season, according to the Guardian’s Fabrizio Romano. It’s understood the club’s stance is firm: pay the €700 million or he stays at Camp Nou.

Messi is yet to report for preseason training with Barcelona because his lawyers reportedly believe the superstar would harm his legal position by working with the club ahead of the 2020-21 term.

Manchester City are apparently the front-runners for Messi’s signature if he can depart Barcelona. The Premier League outfit is apparently considering offering a three-year contract to Messi, followed by an option to join its sister club in Major League Soccer, New York City FC, at the end of his stay in England.

Paris Saint-Germain are also considered among the main candidates to sign Messi, while Inter Milan backed out of the race earlier this week.

1 Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 93 94 2 Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus) 92 93 3 Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) 91 89 4 Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City) 91 91 5 Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain) 91 92 6 Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid) 91 90 7 Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool) 90 90 8 Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain) 90 89 9 Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) 90 90 10 Sadio Mane (Liverpool) 90 88 11 Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona) 90 90 12 Alisson (Liverpool) 90 89 13 Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid) 89 89 14 Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich) 89 88 15 Sergio Aguero (Manchester City) 89 89 16 Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) 89 87 17 Casemiro (Real Madrid) 89 87 18 Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid) 89 88 19 Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich) 88 86 20 Toni Kroos (Real Madrid) 88 88 21 Harry Kane (Tottenham) 88 89 22 Eden Hazard (Real Madrid) 88 91 23 Raheem Sterling (Manchester City) 88 88 24 Paulo Dybala (Juventus) 88 88 25 Ederson (Manchester City) 88 88 26 N’Golo Kante (Chelsea) 88 89 27 Samir Handanovic (Inter Milan) 88 88 28 Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli) 88 89 29 Luka Modric (Real Madrid) 87 90 30 Ciro Immobile (Lazio) 87 86 31 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) 87 88 32 Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United) 87 85 33 Angel Di Maria (Paris Saint-Germain) 87 86 34 Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund) 87 86 35 Heung-Min Son (Tottenham) 87 87 36 Luis Suarez (Barcelona) 87 89 37 Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool) 87 85 38 Antoine Griezmann (Barcelona) 87 89 39 Aymeric Laporte (Manchester City) 87 87 40 Wojciech Szczesny (Juventus) 87 86 41 Roberto Firmino (Liverpool) 87 86 42 Bernardo Silva (Manchester City) 87 87 43 Andy Robertson (Liverpool) 87 85 44 Fabinho (Liverpool) 87 85 45 Keylor Navas (Paris Saint-Germain) 87 87 46 Sergio Busquets (Barcelona) 87 89 47 Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus) 87 89 48 Hugo Lloris (Tottenham) 87 88 49 Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich) 86 86 50 Jamie Vardy (Leicester City) 86 86 51 Paul Pogba (Manchester United) 86 88 52 Marco Verratti (Paris Saint-Germain) 86 86 53 Gerard Pique (Barcelona) 86 88 54 Alejandro Gomez (Atalanta) 86 85 55 Jordan Henderson (Liverpool) 86 85 56 Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid) 86 85 57 Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund) 86 87 58 David Silva (Manchester City) 86 88 59 David De Gea (Manchester United) 86 89 60 Raphael Varane (Real Madrid) 86 85 61 Jordi Alba (Barcelona) 86 87 62 Yann Sommer (Borussia Monchengladbach) 86 86 63 Serge Gnabry (Bayern Munich) 85 85 64 Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain) 85 86 65 Romelu Lukaku (Inter) 85 85 66 Thiago Alcantara (Bayern Munich) 85 87 67 Kai Havertz (Chelsea) 85 84 68 Luis Alberto (Lazio) 85 85 69 Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City) 85 86 70 Memphis Depay (Lyon) 85 84 71 Gianluigi Donnarumma (Milan) 85 85 72 Hakim Ziyech (Chelsea) 85 86 73 Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund) 85 88 74 Timo Werner (Chelsea) 85 86 75 Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (Lazio) 85 85 76 Georginio Wijnaldum (Liverpool) 85 85 77 Matthijs de Ligt (Juventus) 85 85 78 Thiago Silva (Chelsea) 85 87 79 Ricardo Pereira (Leicester City) 85 84 80 Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli) 85 87 81 Miralem Pjanic (Barcelona) 85 86 82 Marcus Rashford (Manchester United) 85 84 83 Leroy Sane (Bayern Munich) 85 86 84 Dani Parejo (Villarreal) 85 87 85 Milan Skriniar (Inter) 85 86 86 Koke (Atletico Madrid) 85 85 87 Dries Mertens (Napoli) 85 87 88 Bernd Leno (Arsenal) 85 85 89 Clement Lenglet (Barcelona) 85 86 90 Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus) 85 86 91 Frenkie de Jong (Barcelona) 85 85 92 Rodri (Manchester City) 85 85 93 Peter Gulacsi (RB Leipzig) 85 85 94 Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham) 85 87 95 Diego Godin (Inter) 85 88 96 Mauro Icardi (Paris Saint-Germain) 85 85 97 Kyle Walker (Manchester City) 85 83 98 Alex Sandro (Juventus) 85 85 99 Christian Eriksen (Inter) 85 88 100 Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund) 84 80

Lionel Messi said Friday that Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu broke a promise to the superstar that he would be allowed to leave the club at the end of the season.

“I told the president and, well, the president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I wanted to go or if I wanted to stay, and in the end, he did not keep his word,” Messi told Goal.

Messi added: “Throughout the year I had been telling the president that I wanted to leave, that the time had come to seek new goals and new directions in my career. He told me all the time, ‘We’ll talk, not now, this and that,’ but nothing. The president did not give me a clue (as to) what he was really saying.”

The 33-year-old tried to engineer a move away from Barcelona – where he’s spent his entire professional career – but ultimately reversed course when the club denied his attempt to terminate his contract.

Bartomeu reportedly told Messi’s father during a meeting Wednesday that he could leave only if a team paid his €700-million release clause in full, and that the clause allowing the player to terminate his contract expired in June.

Messi’s camp countered by saying the deadline to activate the termination clause should’ve been extended due to the delay to the season caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

“I thought and was sure that I was free to leave,” Messi said.

“Now they cling to the fact that I did not say it before June 10, when it turns out that on June 10 we were competing for La Liga in the middle of this awful coronavirus, and this disease altered all the season,” Messi added. “And this is the reason why I am going to continue in the club. Now I am going to continue in the club because the president told me that the only way to leave was to pay the €700 million.”

Messi said he made up his mind well before the 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarterfinals on Aug. 14. He officially submitted his notice to Barcelona on Aug. 25.

“I believed that the club needed more young players, new players, and I thought my time in Barcelona was over,” he said. “I felt very sorry because I always said that I wanted to finish my career here.

“It was a difficult year. I suffered a lot in training, in games, and in the dressing room. Everything became very difficult for me, and there came a time when I considered looking for new ambitions.”