For a long time, shadow of uncertainty was casting over the future of Barcelona’s Argentine forward Lionel Messi. The little magician and arguably football’s all-time great carried Barcelona on his shoulders for the last decade.
However, the dilemma with his contract renewal negotiation with the club has now reached a whole new level. The prospect of Messi leaving Barca never felt so close.
The 33-year-old had regular disagreements with the club’s board, headed by president Josep Maria Bartomeu and now Messi is left frustrated by the comical management of this club.
Messi’s contract is due to expire next year and the Argentinian has reportedly stopped talks due to frustrations with the direction of the club.
“Messi is planning to leave Barca,” Spanish radio Cadena Ser said on Thursday.
“Right now, Messi’s idea is to finish his contract in 2021 and leave Barcelona. Messi has stalled on the extension of his contract. Negotiations had started very well, with a good understanding between the two parties, but recent events have made Messi reconsider everything.”
Messi recently said, “I’ve said throughout my career that Barca is my home. But I also don’t want to have a long-term contract and only be here because of it.”
Barcelona are currently 4 points adrift of Real Madrid in the La Liga, in race to be the champions, with 5 more matches to play. It seems the title is all but lost for Barca.
However, in the game where Barca drew 2-2 with Atletico Madrid, Messi achieved a milestone of scoring 700th career goal, that night after that game he should have celebrated this achievement but instead he was staring into the darkness focusing on what direction the Catalan Club was heading to.
So, over the years Messi had been performing week in week out with unbelievable consistency.
However, football is a team game and Barca’s failure to put a properly balanced team since the departure of Neymar Jr. from the club is nothing but evident. Barca’s failure in the Champions League since 2015 is something astonishing.
Embarrassing team defeats in Paris, Turin, Rome and Liverpool had come, Messi had to shoulder, often alone. Messi said in February he did not believe Barcelona could win the Champions League with the current form they are in.
The constant lies and deceptions appeared in many other forms as well. Leaks in the media regarding him and the club often made him very uncomfortable to say the least.
Messi reacted publicly when sporting director Eric Abidal appeared to blame the players for the sacking of Ernesto Valverde in January. He also led the fightback from the players over the dispute with the board in March regarding pay cuts during the coronavirus pandemic.
Everything now seems doom and gloom regarding Messi’s long term stay at the club. Maybe it’s finally time for the little magician to spark his brilliance in another elite club. The 33-year-old also does not have time to waste as he is in the twilight of his career.
Unless and until Barcelona win this year’s Champions league, it will be five years since the world’s best player has won European football’s ultimate prize. Both Messi and Europe’s elite clubs will be aware he deserves better.