Lionel Messi sat out Barcelona’s opening preseason training session Monday, sources told Agence France-Presse correspondent Tom Allnutt, further escalating tensions between the player and club.
Messi’s legal team argues he’s unilaterally terminated his contract with Barcelona and doesn’t need to show up to training, ESPN’s Sam Marsden reports.
The 33-year-old already instructed the club’s higher-ups Sunday that he wouldn’t undergo the necessary coronavirus testing to participate in training.
Ivan Rakitic, who’s reportedly set to return to Sevilla, also missed Monday’s session, according to Allnutt.
A court case is now looming over Messi and Barcelona, as the two sides insist on different interpretations of a now-infamous clause in the Argentine’s contract that may or may not allow him to leave on a free transfer.
The club reportedly maintains the clause in question expired in June and that any team interested in signing Messi must activate his €700-million release clause.
La Liga backed up Barcelona’s version of events, saying in a statement Sunday that it will not sanction a transfer if the buyout fee isn’t paid in full.
Barcelona reportedly believe Messi can only leave on a free transfer if he agrees to sit out the entire 2020-21 season.
Manchester City are apparently confident they have the inside track on signing Messi and are prepared to spend up to €150 million.
La Liga has made it known that any potential suitors for Lionel Messi should be prepared to pony up €700 million.
The top flight of Spanish football released a statement Sunday in support of Barcelona’s claims that a unilateral agreement in Messi’s contract that would permit a departure this summer on a free transfer expired on June 26.
“In line with the regulations and procedure that apply in such instances, La Liga shall not proceed with the release required for the player to be deregistered from the Spanish Football Federation unless the aforementioned clause has been paid,” the statement read.
Messi’s legal team argues that the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent work stoppage mean the special clause in his contract should be extended through the end of August.
The Argentine wasn’t seen attending Sunday’s COVID-19 testing at Barcelona’s Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper training facility.
Messi’s absence follows reports suggesting the player’s representatives advised him not to attend testing or the start of Barcelona’s preseason preparations on Monday to strengthen his legal position on the matter.
On Tuesday, the 33-year-old reportedly told Barcelona he wants to leave by triggering the special clause in his terms with the club he made his professional debut for in 2004.
Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain are among a select group of teams reportedly linked with interest in Messi.
Sunday’s statement marks the first time La Liga has publicly commented on the issue.
Lionel Messi’s demand to leave Barcelona on a free transfer reverberated across the globe.
Soon, Neymar was reportedly on the phone with Messi, trying to pitch a move to Paris Saint-Germain. Some Inter Milan and Juventus supporters harbor hopes that their club can bankroll a Messi switch to Italy. Fans of Newell’s Old Boys held a street parade in an effort to tempt the unsettled Argentine to Rosario, the city he left at the age of 13. However, a reunion with his former Barca manager, Pep Guardiola, at Manchester City appears to be the likeliest route for Messi.
Amid all the rumors and posturing, only one thing is consistent: The general consensus seems to be that Messi will depart Barcelona. It’s just a matter of where he ends up.
But it’s much more complicated than that.
Francisco Dominguez, a lawyer who oversees the sporting department of DTR Abogados in Barcelona, told The Athletic’s Adam Crafton and Dermot Corrigan that he doesn’t believe Messi will be able to trigger the termination clause in his contract. The clause apparently expired June 10, a date designed to coincide with the end of the 2019-20 season, but Messi’s representatives believe their client’s request – which was submitted Tuesday – should be accepted because of the prolonged campaign.
“The first option is to apply the literality of the words,” Dominguez said, specifically referring to Spanish law practices. And those words clearly state that Messi had until June 10 to terminate his contract with Barcelona. Nothing in the paperwork mentioned a global crisis.
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Even if Messi’s lawyers successfully argue the deadline should be extended because of the coronavirus-induced hiatus, Dominguez argues the superstar is still too late.
“The clause in the contract is June 10 and the end of the season contractually is June 30, when contracts usually end, marking the end of the season. This, therefore, means a 20-day period before the ‘end’ of the season,” Dominguez explained.
He continued: “If we then accept circumstances have changed because of the pandemic, we can then say the season ends on Aug. 23, the day of the Champions League final. As such, I would argue he needed to send the burofax (written request) 20 days before the season ended, and he did not do this on Aug. 3. So, it means the player is wrong, to me, in any case.”
Messi’s burofax bombshell landed in the Barcelona boardroom Aug. 25.
“Nobody I have spoken to in Europe – and I have spoken to a lot of legal colleagues – understands Messi’s position,” Dominguez said.
Messi breaching his contract to force a free transfer would undoubtedly spark a huge legal battle involving Barcelona, Messi, his representatives, and his new employers. Messi himself could be liable for the €700-million release clause in his deal.
Within the football sphere, FIFA could hand Messi a six-month global ban and bar his new club from signing players for two transfer windows. The sport’s governing body could also impose significant financial penalties upon both Messi and his next club.
Whether the case is resolved by the Spanish courts, FIFA, or both, a resolution is unlikely to be reached by Oct. 5, when the transfer window shuts for each of Europe’s five major leagues.
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True, Messi could defy the odds and be rapidly freed from his Camp Nou contract. A club may lodge a bid too good for Barcelona to refuse. But there would still be plenty of work left to do.
Bonuses, image rights, and other complicated small print have to be navigated in sports contracts, especially with an athlete of Messi’s repute. Messi’s father and key advisor, Jorge, is also a notoriously tough negotiator.
Messi’s Barcelona contract earns him a guaranteed annual salary of €106.3 million after various bonuses, according to Football Leaks materials obtained by Der Spiegel. Those wages would immediately swell Manchester City’s payroll by 20%, Forbes estimates. Without a transfer fee, City may still need to offload players to ensure they don’t fall foul of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations.
Simply put, City striking a deal would require the glide and guile of a Messi dribble – an extremely rare set of skills.
The least burdensome way for Messi to wriggle free from Barcelona’s clutches would be via a gentleman’s agreement with the club’s embattled president, Josep Maria Bartomeu. Real Madrid chief Florentino Perez and Cristiano Ronaldo found a similar reconciliation, allowing for Ronaldo’s €100-million transfer to Juventus in 2018.
Ronaldo’s release clause was an unrealistic €1 billion, €300 million more than Messi’s.
“Real Madrid would today like to place on record its thanks to a player who has shown himself to be the best in the world and made his mark on one of the greatest periods in our club’s history and on the world game,” read Los Blancos’ statement marking Ronaldo’s sale.
Right now, a similarly amicable exit – or even an embittered exit, for that matter – seems a long way off for Messi.
Fans of Lionel Messi’s hometown club, Newell’s Old Boys, tried to tempt the unsettled Barcelona icon to Argentina with a street parade on Thursday.
The initiative to bring the Rosario native home started on social media and led to hundreds of supporters taking to the streets to express their hope that Messi moves to Estadio Marcelo Bielsa. The attacker reportedly told Barcelona on Tuesday that he wants to leave the club.
JUAN MABROMATA / AFP / Getty
“Olele, Olala, Messi is Newell’s, he’s not going to City,” the fans chanted, according to Reuters. The song was in response to reports that Messi will reunite with his former Barca boss, Pep Guardiola, at Manchester City.
The 33-year-old has also been linked with a move to Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan, Juventus, and other European giants.
JUAN MABROMATA / AFP / Getty
Messi has made no secret of his support for Newell’s, saying in 2017 that representing the club “is what I dreamed about since I was a kid.” He left Argentina at the age of 13 for the opportunity to join Barcelona and has since only played for the Catalonian club.
Some of the clothing and flags at the parade carried the slogan, “Your dream, our desire,” ESPN’s Tom Marshall reports.
JUAN MABROMATA / AFP / Getty
“As a Newell’s fan, I want him to come here but we know it’s impossible,” 65-year-old fan Daniel Valvi told reporters in Rosario, as quoted by Reuters.
“If he does come, he’ll come in four years or so when he’s almost done so he can say, ‘I’m playing a few games for Newell’s and then I’m retiring.'”
Messi’s final match for Barcelona could be the humiliating 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarterfinals earlier this month.
