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Messi will leave when he wants: Pique


Bangladeshpost
Published : 06 Sep 2019 10:17 PM | Updated : 05 Sep 2020 09:55 AM

Gerard Pique has said Lionel Messi has earned the right to leave Barcelona when he feels the moment is right after it emerged the forward could walk away for free next summer, ESPN reports. Messi has a contract at Camp Nou until 2021 but a report in El Pais on Thursday re­vealed there's a clause which allows him to leave at the end of each season if he so wishes. The Argentina international would just have to communicate his desire to move on before the end of May. Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta all signed similar deals with Barca in the final years of their time at the club, too. Pique is aware of the existence of the clause but insists he is not worried about Messi quitting Barcelona any time soon.

"I already knew Messi is able to leave for free at the end of each season," the defender told Cadena Ser. "But we all know the commitment Leo has to Barca and it doesn't worry me at all. He's earned the right to be able to choose what he does with his future after everything he's given the club."

Messi agreed his existing terms in 2017, eventually signing the contract in November after Barcelona had annou­nced an agreement was in place in June. The delay in getting him to sign almost saw him move into the last six months of his deal, when he would have been free to negotiate with other clubs.

Despite it being less than two years since Messi signed that contract, Josep Maria Bartomeu is already working on his next new contract, which could be his last with the club -- he will turn 33 next summer and will be 34 when his current terms expire in 2022, the year of the next World Cup in Qatar.