It seems that Lionel Messi’s desire to leave Barcelona, Spain,
next summer, may not be fulfilled, for two reasons mentioned
by the British sports network, “Sky Sports”.
The source revealed that Manchester City, the destination most
able to include Messi, dismissed the deal, due to the old age of
the Argentine star, as well as his exaggerated salary.
And last summer, a crisis arose between Messi (33 years) and
Barcelona due to the striker’s desire to leave, following a very
bad season for the Catalan team.
Messi wanted to activate a clause allowing him to leave for free
a year before the end of his contract, but the club insisted on
paying the penalty clause of 700 million euros before the exit
door was opened to him.
In the end, Messi said that he would stay in Barcelona for one
season until the end of his contract in the summer of 2021, but
his exit at this time is no longer certain, according to the latest developments.
According to “Sky Sports”, the coach of Manchester City, Josep Guardiola,
who has a good relationship with Messi, stopped his plan to persuade
the player to join Manchester City.
The network quoted a well-known Spanish football expert Simra
Hunter as saying: “I learned from a source familiar with the situation
that Manchester City will not enter the competition to include
Messi. Based on the information I have until today; this door is closed.”
Hunter added, “Manchester City has two reasons: age and money.
As for age, Messi is heading to the last years of his career.
Messi will include something other than the one we saw over
17 years at Barcelona.”
The football expert added, “Even he himself said that his career
is nearing the end.”
He explained: “This is also related to his salary, because even if
Manchester City included him for free (after the end of his contract),
his wages are very high. It will cost the club about 100 million
euros annually. This will be very stressful for any club,
especially given that we are in the middle of the Corona crisis.”
