The father and agent of Lionel Messi is currently on a plane from Argentina to negotiate his son’s exit from Barcelona.
The details are outlined by Marca, who say that Jorge Messi is scheduled to meet with Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu and the current board of the Catalan giants to negotiate Lionel’s exit from the Camp Nou.
The player is insistent that he will leave the club this summer while the Blaugrana are digging their heels in, saying that not only can he not leave as a free agent but that any buying club would have to pay his €700m release clause, or negotiate a fee.
The 33-year-old has a clause in his deal allowing him to leave at the end of any season, and whilst it was thought that deadline passed in June, Marca have reported his camp believe that it has been extended in line with the prolonged 2019/20 season.
The legalities of Messi’s contractual situation are set to now play a key role with reports claiming his €700m release clause at the club is no longer valid.
On Saturday, Barcelona sacked their legal team for advising the player on how to navigate his exit from the club while Messi did not turn up for testing as scheduled on Sunday morning.
With a legal dispute between the player and club appearing increasingly likely, it is now reported that FIFA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport are likely to be involved in determining the nature of any exit for the player this summer.
