It's been a crazy 10 days for Barcelona. Messi the star, the legend, announced that he wanted to leave his beloved Barcelona. This had been something that had been brewing for years. However in a massive twist it was announced just two days ago in an interview that he would be staying, what a remarkable turnaround. This was all down to Barcelona playing hard ball and being firm that the release clause in his contract was still valid.
Messi's team believed that he could leave on a free transfer. However in the interview Messi said that "the president told me that the only way to leave was to pay the €700 million clause, and that this is impossible."
Messi said that he did not want to take Barcelona to court and thus would remain for the 2020-2021 season.
In this struggle it was not just Barcelona who agreed that the clause must stand but La Liga as well.
Back in 2017 when Messi signed a new deal, there was a clause that stated that he could leave the club for free at the end of every season should he wish. He had to inform the club in May at the end of the season and the club would then release him to leave. Due to COVID-19 the season finished in August instead of May so Barcelona believed that the clause did not stand.
Messi has been thinking of leaving for some time, over the years Barcelona have seemed to digressed. They lost out the La Liga title to Real Madrid. It's not been since the 2013-2014 season where they have missed out on the trophy. Their record in the champions league over the last couple of seasons has been poor. Their have been loses to Liverpool, Roma and then the cruising defeat to Bayern Munich. They've also been hit and miss with the managers that they have had since Pep Guardiola left.
The new manager of Barcelona Koeman has a huge task on his hands. He has Messi for this new upcoming season but can he convince him to stay for longer than that? Can Barcelona win trophies for next season? Which players will come and go all remains to be seen.
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