[ad_1]
The Spanish league has insisted that Lionel Messi is still under contract at Barcelona, just hours after he failed to show up for a preseason medical examination at the club. Manchester City have spoken with the Argentine and hope they can find a way to sign him, but La Liga announced on Sunday that it will not cooperate with any attempt to sign him up for another club unless his € 700 million release clause is paid.
After officially informing Barça of his intention to leave on Tuesday, Messi tries to exercise a clause in the contract he signed in 2017 that allows him to go out for free at the end of each season. However, Barcelona responded immediately with a formal letter of their own insisting that the clause had already expired and that they could no longer leave for free.
According to Barcelona, Messi had to inform them of his intention to leave before June 10, while Messi’s representatives argue that the extended nature of the 2019-2020 season means that the deadline must be postponed. Barcelona told Messi that they wanted him to continue and that to leave he would have to pay his release clause of 700 million euros.
Reports on Cadena SER radio late Saturday night suggested another way out when they claimed that the 33-year-old player’s € 700 million release clause no longer applies in the final year of his contract. That would potentially reduce the financial risk of signing him against Barcelona’s wishes and pending arbitration. But a statement from the Spanish league’s governing body on Sunday denied that was the case. There was no formal statement from the club itself, only from the league. Nor has there been any public explanation from Messi or his side.
“The contract is currently valid and has a ‘termination clause’ that would apply if Lionel Andrés Messi decides to unilaterally terminate that contract early,” the statement read.
“In accordance with the applicable rule … The League will not process the necessary approval prior to an application to be terminated as a player in the Spanish Football Federation, unless the amount of the termination clause has been paid. “.
Messi’s field argues that he can leave unilaterally, under the terms of his current contract, with only one more year left to run in any case. In the spring he had stopped all discussions about the renewal of the new contract of the current agreement that expires on June 30, 2021. A legal battle may still unfold, as the two parties reach a stalemate that does not suit anyone. Messi had sought a negotiated deal over the weekend, but Barcelona are currently insisting that there is nothing to negotiate, unless they want to discuss a new deal.
Messi’s decision not to appear at the club’s training ground on Sunday morning is consistent with his legal argument that he has already communicated his decision to leave and is therefore currently without a contract. As expected, he did not show up for the coronavirus tests at the Barcelona training complex having informed the club in advance via Burofax. The squad was supposed to start arriving at 10.15, but, with the cameras waiting outside, he was not among them. By not attending, he will not be able to participate this Monday in the first session of the new coach, Ronald Koeman.
Barcelona sports director Ramon Planes said last week that the La Liga giants “will count on Messi for the future” despite the player’s apparent desire to leave a club with which he has been associated since age 13. .
[ad_2]