BEVERLY HILLS, August 25, (THEWILL) – Lionel Messi is leaving Barcelona and has reportedly informed the club, where he has played since 2001 in the youth team before graduating to the senior side in 2003.
Messi, according to multiple credible reporting, does not want to continue under new manager, Ronald Koeman, who was appointed after Barcelona’s shocking 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Fox Sports journalist, Cholo Sottile, tweeted on Tuesday afternoon: “Confirmed: Messi has communicated to Barcelona that he will leave.”
The player, who was expected to end his career at the Catalans, wants to start afresh with another club.
Also, popular journalist, Guillem Balague, took to his Twitter account to say the Argentine may need to legally activate a clause to break his contract and become a free agent before it expires in 2021.
Messi has a 700m Euros release clause in his contract but there is another clause in the contract that allows him leave for free if he chooses to at the end of any season.
“Messi thinks the season finished in August, so he can use the clause that frees him from the club before the end of the month. FCB would mention that the contract talks about the end of June for Messi to use the clause, so it has expired.”
According to reports, Messi sent a burofax to the club stating his intentions to leave, but Barcelona insisted that the clause in his contract allowing him to leave at the end of the season expired on June 10.
