Lionel Messi ‘very likely’ to leave Barcelona despite Ronald Koeman appointment

Lionel Messi reportedly scrapped his vacation to meet new manager Ronald Koeman for his discussion on his Barcelona future.

According to RAC1, Argentina international told the new boss that right now “He does not see his future at Barça clearly” and is leaning more towards leaving than staying.

The two did meet at Messi’s home and he made it very clear later that how unhappy he was after the 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League. Yet Messi is also very clear that it won’t be easy to leave the club at this current moment. He is still under contract until 2021 and has a release clause set at a whopping straight €700 million.

Advertisement

Koeman said this yesterday that he is keen on holding Messi at the club, but he also said he only “wants to work with players who want to be here.”It seems that Messi still hasn’t quite made his mind up about his future and will need convincing it’s worth staying at the Camp Nou.

Marcelo Bechler’s stunning announcement that Messi, furious after the Bayern defeat, doesn’t want to wait until his current deal expires in 2021 before leaving Camp Nou came as an absolute shocker to the footballing world.

“Messi has always thought him and Barca were ‘just one thing,’ but now he is thinking maybe he can be another thing without Barcelona. He can take another step and try to win without Barcelona. He is angry with the board and disappointed with the club and wants to leave now. Barca is pessimistic because they can’t offer a solid project and can’t do much to help him. It is very likely he leaves Barcelona if there is another project, I don’t know where or which club. It is impossible in this economy to pay €700 million, but I think Barca don’t want him here unhappy. After all that Messi gave to them, they don’t want him here as a prisoner.” Bechler explained.

It also sounds like Barcelona would not stand in Messi’s way if he really wants to leave the club, but its not like that they wouldn’t want to. They obviously will love the idea of him staying back and holding in the club, but there’s absolutely nothing the club can do if he prefers finally to walk out and seek his peace elsewhere. The last thing Messi would want is to feel like unhappy and a prisoner at Camp Nou, so it sounds likely that they would accept a fee significantly lower than his €700 million buyout clause if he really were to leave.