SHOCK as Lionel Messi hands in transfer request to Barcelona
- Lionel Messi has asked for transfer from the Spanish giants
- The six-time player of the year has asked the club to allow him to leave this summer
- The request has caused chaos at Nou Camp with an emergency board meeting called
- Mental Health and Psychosocial considerations during the COVID-19 pandemic
Lionel Messi has asked to be allowed to leave Barcelona.
Three items have always been constant in life: Death, Taxes and Lionel Messi at Barcelona. Well, one item of that arrangement could soon change with the Argentine reported to have handed in a transfer request.
The diminutive Argentine is said to have formally asked to leave Barcelona this summer, only eleven days after suffering the biggest defeat of his football career when Bayern Munich mauled the Spanish side 8-2 in the Champions League.
Reports indicate that on Tuesday evening, Messi sent a fax to the Nou Camp side asking the club to allow him to depart using a clause in his last contract by which he can leave the side for free.
The clause is understood to have expired on June 10, though, with Messi’s contract now having a €700 million release clause.
It is reported that an emergency board meeting has been called to agree and decide on what to do with a decision that will alter the club’s history.
The 33-year old has spent his entire football career with the Catalans, where he helped the side win ten league titles, four Champions Leagues and collecting six Ballon d’Ors.
His attempt to leave the side could ignite a legal battle between the two parties with the club stating they would seek advice over the activation of the exit clause in the club captain’s contract.
Messi has been on record complaining about the management of the club this season that saw them relinquish the title to arch-rivals Real Madrid and end the season without a single trophy.
Club President Josep Bartomeu recently stated that the side was confident of keeping the services of the Argentine until his retirement.
This would be followed by reports that Messi met the new manager Ronald Koeman and informed him that was ‘more out than in’.
