Shazneen Mistry
Lionel “Leo” Andrés Messi, born 24 June 1987, is a soccer player with FC Barcelona (Futbol Club Barcelona) and the Argentina national team. He has established records for goals scored and won individual awards and is on route to worldwide recognition as one of the best players in soccer. Messi is unique for his blend of intelligence and perceptiveness as both a creator and scorer of goals. The little Argentine's decision-making between passing and shooting is especially clear in cases of an onrushing goalkeeper.
FC Barcelona is a Spanish professional football club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Messi joined Barcelona aged 13 and went on to score 672 goals in 778 appearances for the club. He has won La Liga 10 times and the Champions League four times. The 34-year-old has stayed with this team for 21 years and is an all-time top goal-scorer.
On 5th August 2021, the Barcelona club confirmed through a statement that “Messi will not continue with the club”. Before this announcement, it was seen that Messi and the club had reached an agreement on a new contract and all would be settled after singing, but due to economic and structural obstacles, the deal renewal failed. Later on, a report said that “Leo wanted to stay and the club wanted him to stay, but with the La Liga rules it has not been possible.”
"Despite FC Barcelona and Lionel Messi reaching an agreement and the clear intention of both parties to sign a new contract today, this cannot happen because of financial and structural obstacles (Spanish La Liga regulations)," said FC Barcelona official. He further added "As a result of this situation, Messi shall not be staying on at FC Barcelona. Both parties deeply regret that the wishes of the player and the club will ultimately not be fulfilled”.
The President of the FC Barcelona club, Joan Laporta said that “Keeping Lionel Messi would be risky for Barcelona and not even the greatest player in the world was worth jeopardizing the club's future.” Laporta also blamed Barcelona's previous administration for the club's dire financial situation, which kept it from fitting Messi's new contract within the Spanish league's fair play regulations.
Another source said that Messi had agreed to a 50% pay cut to stay at Barca and sign a new contract but was unable to finalize the deal due to the Spanish league's financial control rules and the club's debts, which total more than 1 billion euros.
It was seen that in 2020 Messi had made a formal request tried to exit Barcelona, after a breakdown in his relationship with then-president Josep Maria Bartomeu but successor Joan Laporta convinced him to stay, and now due to the football rules the player had to leave the team.
To show their gratitude to the beloved player the club wholeheartedly expresses its gratitude to Messi for his contribution to the club and wishes him all the very best for the future in his personal and professional life.
Since Messi is now out of the club many clubs are trying to get him to join their football club, and in one of his speeches he said that PSG (Paris Saint-Germain Football Club) was a “possibility”, he didn’t say much about it as they haven’t signed any deals yet. So, all the Messi fans will still have to wait and see which club Messi will choose.
