Barcelona believe Lionel Messi is ready for Manchester City as they await a £ 250 million transfer commitment

Barcelona are desperately trying to negotiate a £ 250 million commitment to Manchester City for Lionel Messi.

Now that City lawyers are examining the clause in Messi’s contract that gives them hope they can sign the Argentine for free, embattled Barca bosses are hoping the Blues will agree to a player-plus-cash deal rather than gambling. 630 million pounds in court.

Sunday Mirror Sport understands that both clubs believe that Messi is destined for the Etihad.

And that the only detail that remains is whether Messi signs for City with the blessing of Barcelona, ​​or if the terms of the most controversial transfer in the history of football are decided by FIFA or the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Messi has told the Catalan giants that he is leaving the Camp Nou and wants to rejoin Pep Guardiola at the Etihad.

After a decade of trying to lure the 33-year-old to Manchester, the Blues believe they have finally gotten their man.

Barça’s new manager, Ronald Koeman, has told his friends in the Netherlands that he is already planning his life without the world’s number one player.

Koeman’s hopes of negotiating a deal that will see Gabriel Jesus and Bernardo Silva move to the Camp Nou, as City have already rejected the heavyweights.

There are players Guardiola would be willing to sacrifice, including John Stones, Nicolas Otamendi, Benjamin Mendy, Joao Cancelo, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Angelino.

Whether any of those names would be acceptable to Koeman remains to be seen, although Barcelona do want young City defender Eric Garcia following his decision to reject a new contract.

Barcelona also hopes to deposit at least £ 120 million in cash to allow Koeman to begin its rebuilding.

Guardiola and Koeman are former Barça teammates and they continue to be good friends.

The couple met regularly for dinner when the Dutchman was in charge of Everton.

Guardiola has been in Barcelona for a few days before returning to supervise pre-season training.

He is believed to have spoken to both Messi and Koeman about the player’s confrontation with Nou Camp president Josep Maria Bartomeu.

Messi continues to insist that he is free after activating a clause in his contract.

Barcelona claims the deal expired on June 10 and cannot be visited again until next summer.

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But Messi argues that he has the right to inform the club of his intention to leave because the season was lengthened by the coronavirus crisis.

The city’s legal team is now on the case, but Bartomeu appeared to confirm Messi’s claim during a television interview last year.

Bartomeu said: “Messi has a contract that he signed two years ago that allows him to leave Barça before the start of the 2020-21 season.

“He can leave football or go elsewhere.

“Players like him have that freedom because they have earned it.

“They can decide their future.”

In another telling story twist, Bartomeu has now fired the Barcelona legal team at the Cuatrecasas law firm after discovering that Messi had also been informed that he had the right to leave the club.

It is reported in Argentina that Messi’s father. Jorge will arrive in Spain on Sunday in an attempt to resolve the situation and secure Messi’s departure to City.

Messi has informed Barcelona that he will NOT report to the club for Covid-19 testing on Sunday.

Paris St Germain stars Neymar and Angel Di Maria have tried to persuade Messi to join them, and the French club has even offered to beat the salary package that City presented.

Both Juventus and Inter Milan want to bring the forward to Italy.

But now it seems like a question of when the ‘Welcome to Manchester’ posters will be put up for Messi.