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As the saying goes, travelers must not be stopped. When Ronald Koeman took over as FC Barcelona coach three weeks ago, this translated into football: “I only want to work with players who want to be here.”
Since Friday night, he’s officially had an unintentional party on the team, and he’s not exactly a second-tier man. Lionel Messi said in an interview with “goal.com” that he will stay at FC Barcelona, but only out of legal necessity: because the club does not accept his dismissal as legal and should have risked a lawsuit. What you don’t want after 20 years of relationship. “I would never go to the pitch against Barça, it’s the club I love.”
That sounds good and emotional. An aspect that he omitted and about which he was not asked does not sound so good: given the legal uncertainty and the possibility of a contractual sanction for the amount of his termination clause of 700 million euros, no club recently wanted to sign him.
A forced U-turn that should only have increased his resentment. Messi no longer believes in this club that he loves. He said he had always asked for a team that was eligible for a title to stay: “But the truth is, there hasn’t been a project here in a long time, and nothing at all, you just juggle and plug holes.” This move was enthusiastically celebrated by the club’s opposition to President Josep Maria Bartomeu. In concrete terms, however, it means: Messi also wanted to go elsewhere, for sure. But first of all, he just wanted to escape.
By implementing this intention, he and his advisor Father Jorge underestimated Bartomeu’s intransigence. The president kept the door firmly closed for a week and a half of friendly settlement. For him, adventure was a matter of personal pride. After being carried away by the nose by Neymar in successive summers (2017), he got a basket from Antonie Griezmann through a documentary video -that was in 2018, a year later the French arrived after all- and finally from PSG while requesting Neymar’s return was sent to the void (2019), now, at least formally, he does not go down in history as the president under whom Messi left. The elections will take place in March, Bartomeu’s term will expire and the successor will have to manage a possible free exit of the club icon when the contract expires in the summer of 2021. However, Messi will be able to sign publicly and legally elsewhere as of January 1st.
The relationship with Bartomeu is irretrievably destroyed
In other words, the topic of your future will continue to create a powerful background noise. The relationship with Bartomeu has been irreparably destroyed, Messi even accused the club boss of breaking his word: he had repeatedly expressed his thoughts on emigrating to him and it was always postponed until the end of the season, at which point Bartomeu suddenly referred to inflexible way to the wording of the contract, Messi. it only granted an exemption clause until June 10. “On June 10 we continued to play the League in the midst of this shitty virus,” Messi complains. If he actually informed Bartomeu of his intentions beforehand it will probably remain a secret from those involved forever. Trend among Barcelona fans: They no longer believe in either of them. In polls conducted on online sites Friday night, a clear majority did not rate the whereabouts of their former favorite Messi as a good solution for the club.
Semi-official commentators, meanwhile, cling to the hope principle. “It is a divorce between a player and a president,” said former vice president and intimate of Bartomeu Jordi Mestre; but Messi will look as ambitious as ever on the field. The opposition candidate Víctor Font even called on Messi to “build a new Barça together” as if the Argentine were not 33 years old. And the club-related newspaper “Sport” expressed relief that “the best player in club history does not go with a 2: 8, but perhaps through the front door.”
Many questions remain open
There were no official statements from the association at the moment. Barça will not start the League until the end of September, two weeks after the start of the season, due to their demands in the Champions League. Unofficially, Messi is said not to be prosecuted for the boycotted Covid test and skipped training sessions last week; it would be the first exception to the maxim that Koeman supposedly announced to Messi: “The time of privileges is over.”
Sensitivity is not necessarily considered one of the Dutch manager’s strengths and he has been hired to take tough measures. Now he faces a tightrope between adherence to principle and diplomacy. It is said that he already chose Gerard Piqué as the new captain for the time after Messi, the only professional who answered questions after the 2: 8 disaster. Will he still be captain now where Messi remains? Is there any chance for Messi’s chest partner Luis Suárez, whom Koeman really solved? Thus it is speculated with the possible signing of Suárez to Italy, as a kind of appeasement measure for the world footballer. And how is the future of Antoine Griezmann, who never harmonized with Messi, but is said that Koeman promised him an important role?
These are just some questions about the provisional ending of a soap opera. Lionel Messi can be accused of many things, but not that he wanted to get in the way of unrest. “Young people, new people” is what the team needs, he said in his interview, which is one of the reasons why he wanted to “step aside.” FC Barcelona did not consider this move. The future is postponed again.
