Barcelona State Decision On Allowing Messi Leave The Club

Barcelona has declared that they are pulling all the strings within their reach to ensure their star player, Lionel Messi doesn’t leave the club.

This is as Naija News earlier reported that the Argentine international had handed in a transfer request to the Spanish outfit, intimating them of his desire to depart the club where he has so far played his entire professional career.

Messi, 33, has a contract with the club until 2021 but has grown disappointed with events on and off the pitch at Camp Nou in recent months, and on Tuesday, submitted a transfer request to the club.

But Barcelona Technical Secretary Ramon Planes has declared that the club is making every effort to convince Messi to stay, adding that they want to build the club around him.

“We want to build another winning cycle alongside the best player in the world. We all continue to count on Messi.

“We are not contemplating a departure of Messi. We want Messi to stay.

“We are working internally to convince Messi to stay. Messi has not told us that he’s not going to show up for training,” he said.

Meanwhile, Barcelona are understood to have revealed that any club interested in signing Messi must be ready to pay the player’s £631million release clause.