Have you heard about the potential move of Lionel Messi to Manchester City? While very little can be said with complete certainty, the following will provide you with all the facts available at the moment about the high-impact potential move. As well as the most recent information that hints the player is to stay in Barcelona for at least another year before looking into moving to Manchester City.
Messi Wants to Leave Barcelona
Lionel Messi, a record goalscorer who has played for Barcelona for nearly two decades, recently spoke openly about his desire to leave Barcelona and play for Manchester City. Apparently, the news was given to the Barcelona club via fax.
Some have cited the incident back in February as the reason behind Messi’s desire. Earlier this year, the 33-year player from Argentina, had a rather public fallout with the former director of Barcelona sporting, Eric Abidal. While others claim that the decision was made because of the humiliating 8-2 defeat of Barcelona by Bayern Munich. Still, others suggest the decision came about because of the managerial change, replacing Quique Setien with Ronal Koeman.
Whatever the reason for Messi wanting to leave Barcelona, the fax message allegedly emphasized that there was a clause in Messi’s contract where he is expressly free to leave at the end of each season after turning 32. This clause is not entirely unique, being shared by Carles Puyol, Xavi, and Andres Iniesta.
The response of Barcelona has not yet been released publicly, so little to nothing can be said about it. It is expected, however, that given the strength of Messi as a player, Barcelona will want to keep him.
They may have the ability to do this, as technically, the option to walk expired on June 30th of this year. This being said, Messi’s legal team believes that an exception will be made as the coronavirus pandemic is to blame for the disruption as the season length was extended due to the virus.
Messi Thought To Stay With Barcelona At Least Until 2021
As with any high-impact sports news, there are conflicting reports. As reported at ronaldo.com, Messi has since shown up to Barcelona training, indicating that the player might be settled on staying at least one more year with Barcelona. The site has also presented Samuel Eto’o’s response to Messi’s decision, giving further evidence of the idea that Messi will play out his contract until June 2021.
Messi Wants to Go to Manchester City
The Barca captain, who has won the Ballon d’Or an astounding six times, has previously said that the only club he would ever leave Barcelona for is Newells as this was where he grew up playing. This being said, Marcelo Bachler, a journalist for Esporte Interativo has reported that Messi is eager to have a reunion with Pep Guardiola in England. Other reports have stated that Messi has already phoned Guardiola to speak about his interest in joining Manchester City.
Messi and Pep Guardiola worked together at Barcelona between 2008 and 2012. Messi has previously spoken of Guardiola saying he was “the best of all.” And Guardiola has spoken publicly about the mutualism of admiration, referring to Messi as Guardiola has spoken publicly about the mutualism of admiration, calling Messi the best player he had ever seen and probably would ever see. These statements likely are what is fueling the wide-spread belief that Messi will leave Barcelona for Manchester City.
Very little can be said for certain at this time, but it is clear that any deal struck between Messi and Manchester City won’t be straightforward. If the free leaving clause does not hold up, it’s going to take an epic 631 million Pounds for release. A lengthy legal battle is possible. Alternatively, Messi could play out the year and take advantage of his clause in June 2021.
Many people are wondering if this move, even if it is on hold for another season, will help determine an outcome of the Messi vs. Ronaldo debate. If Messi were to move, he’d likely have the chance of winning another, or multiple more, Championship League trophies.
At the moment Messi’s won the Championship League tournament four times within a single club, whereas Ronaldo has won five times across two different clubs. Of course, more data is involved in determining who the best player of all time is, tournament wins from multiple teams could definitely affect the overall opinion on the topic. It’s too soon to know for certain what the results of this discussion will be and what impact a move would have on both teams.
OTS News on Social Media