What will Messi's new team be?
Alejandro Panfil @AlePanfil
Planet Soccer is in shock. Lionel Messi, the best player in the world and one of the best players ever, has officially communicated FC Barcelona his desire to leave the team whose colors he has defended since his early days in soccer. This decision is based on successive failures of the team in the international context and his disagreements with the current club's board of directors.
Many people are aware that Barcelona had incredible and consecutive defeats in the last three editions of the Champions League: 0-3 against Roma in quarter finals 2018, 0-4 against Liverpool in semifinals 2019 and 2-8 against Bayern Munich in the recent quarter finals in Lisbon. But that’s not all. Like pouring gas on the fire, Josep Maria Bartomeu, current president of the club, surprisingly fired manager Ernesto Valverde -who had won 2 Spanish Leagues, 1 Copa del Rey and 1 Spanigh Supercup- last January in the middle of the season to bring Quique Setién, a coach with no significant experience in big teams. To make matters worse, Barcelona took the unbelievable decision of hiring a company to harass its own players through social media early this very year.
After the tremendous defeat against Bayern Munich only 11 days ago, the club tried to shake things up by quickly hiring Ronald Koeman, who began to mold his new team within a few hours. And in this respect he decided to separate from the squad via a brief telephone call, among other players, the scorer and Messi’s great friend, Luis Suárez. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back and the best player in the world had to act on it.
Messi is not a cheap player. That's clear. His termination clause is 700 million euros and there will be several meetings between lawyers to effectively resolve his departure. Messi has a contract until June 2021 but he would take refuge in a clause that allows him to unilaterally terminate one year before the end of the agreement. Messi’s deadline to communicate his decision was 10 June 2020, but as he failed to meet that requirement, the club took his continuity for granted. But, according to lawyers who are experts in sports law, the spirit of this clause is to authorize the player to make an informed decision at the end of the season. Since the coronavirus pandemic delayed the resolution of the Spanish League and the Champions League well into August, Messi’s announcement takes advantage of the legal gap left by the contract and, therefore, Barcelona is unlikely to get a cent out of Messi's upcoming transfer.
But before that drama begins to unravel, the world is already speculating which will be La Pulga’s next club. Will it be Inter of Milan that will give Messi the opportunity to return to his old duel with Cristiano Ronaldo? Will it be Manchester City that has Pep Guardiola, his best coach so far and who made him shine the most? Will it be Paris Saint Germain, still hurt by the loss of the Champions League final but that continuous to have a millionaire squad that includes Messi’s great friend, Neymar? Will it be a complete surprise like Manchester United? Will it be the MLS? Will it be his beloved Newell’s Old Boys, back home in Argentina? Only Messi knows if the future has already been written...
Barcelona will be even more beaten than it already is and will have to re-found itself. To refresh its memory, the club can always take a tour of his own museum and take a look at everything that Messi has left in the last 16 seasons: 731 official matches, 33 titles, 6 Ballon d'Or, 6 Golden Boots, 513 victories 633 goals and 254 assists.
Messi has caused a global commotion for having decided to leave Barça and, in case you hadn't noticed, it's 2020 and nothing ends up going to plan.