Could Lionel Messi move to Man City, PSG or stay with Barcelona?
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Lionel Messi says he wants to quit Barcelona to play for another team.
The Argentina forward sent a message to the club saying that he wanted to use a part of his contract that would allow him to leave the club for free this summer.
Messi is one of the world's best players. He is the current holder of the Ballon d'Or, an award for being the best men's footballer, which he has won a record six times.
Many people say that Messi is the greatest player there has ever been and he has scored more than 700 goals for Barcelona and Argentina.
As a professional footballer, Messi has only played for one club. He joined Barcelona at the age of 13 and made his debut for the first team at 17.
In 20 years, Messi has gone on to win the Spanish League with Barca 10 times and the Champions League four times.
Messi showed how unhappy he was after Barcelona's 8-2 defeat in the Champions League
But now Messi has fallen out with the club
It's believed that Messi is unhappy after Barca were thrashed 8-2 by Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals. They've been knocked out at the quarter-final stage in four of the last five seasons.
Barcelona say the clause in Messi's contract - that said the player had to tell the club he wanted to leave - expired on 10 June.
The club say he is now contracted until next year and want 700m euros if he is to be released from his current deal to play for another team.
But Messi and the people who work for him say the part of the contract allowing him to quit Barcelona should have been extended to cover the longer season - which ran until August due to coronavirus.
It could mean that a decision on whether Messi can leave will be decided in court.
Most goals scored in the Spanish league, La Liga (444)
Most Ballons d'Or in history and most Fifa World Player of the Year/Best Fifa Men's Player Awards (6)
Top goal scorer in all club competitions in a calendar year: 79 goals in 2012
Only player to score more than 40 goals in 10 seasons in a row
Most goals scored for a single club in the Champions League (115)
Messi moved to Barcelona at 13-years-old and has been at the club for 20 years
If it's decided that Barcelona do have a contract with Messi until 2021, he could still leave the club. Although a transfer will likely cost a huge amount of money, possibly more than the world record 拢200m Paris Saint-Germain paid for Neymar in 2017.
However, if Messi is able to leave for free he would still cost any club in Europe a lot of money. His wages at Barcelona are over 50m euros per year.
After the news of Messi's decision, Barcelona fans gathered outside their home stadium the Nou Camp on Tuesday night chanting in support of the player. They also called for Barca's president Josep Maria Bartomeu to quit his job.
Which club should Messi move to? Choose one of the options below, or let us know in the comments.
- Published18 August 2020
- Published8 January 2020
