Messi wants out of Barcelona, Manchester City possible destination

The soccer world has been shaken by an atomic bomb during thee past few days, as superstar Leo Messi announced publicly his intentions to leave Barcelona immediately.

Messi has been part of the Barcelona organization for the past 20 years, since he arrived as just a kid, from Argentina, to take his first steps in football and, most importantly, to deal with some health-related issues that the team decided to take care of. Since then, Messi has become Barcelona’s biggest legend ever, breaking every single record, winning every trophy and giving fans and team officials the ride of their life.

So, why does Messi want to leave Barcelona?

It’s a long and complicated story, but to make it short, it’s no secret to anyone that the team’s board of directors has not performed well in the past few years, and to summarize, team’s chemistry has been a real mess since some of the other legends left, like Carles Puyol, Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez. Josep Maria Bartomeu, team’s President, and his crew, have failed to create a new long-term project, and even after they brought superstars like Luis Suarez, Neymar and Antoine Griezmann, Barcelona hasn’t been able to achieve the expected goals for the past few years, while archrival Real Madrid, for example, won 3 Champions League titles.

Lionel Messi has renewed his contract quite a few times already, and his release clause is of a whoppin’ $700 million, however, there is a clause that says that he can opt out of his contract each year, if he makes his decision before the end of the season. And here’s where trouble comes, and where Messi, the team, and the league, have discrepancies.

The contract says season ends on June 30th, and if he wants to leave, he must say so before that date. However, 2020 has been a totally different story, and the season ended just a few days ago, with the Champions League final between Bayern Munchen and PSG, and that’s when Messi notified the team. Messi and his legal team think he complied and made his request before the season’s end, while Barcelona and La Liga think he had to notify before June 30th.

That’s a legal battle they will have to deal with, however, for now, Messi warned the team he will not be reporting for physical tests or training, and he already missed his first appointment.

Where will Messi play next season if he’s allowed to leave?

His first choice, as per different sources, is Manchester City, where he would reunite with Pep Guardiola. Some have said that he’s been shopping for a house in Manchester already, while his friend and teammate in Argentina, Kun Aguero, already deleted some of his Social Media pictures where he wears City’s #10, which of course, would now go to Messi.

Other options that have been mentioned are, Manchester United, Juventus, for those who want to partner him up with Cristiano Ronaldo, Internazionale and PSG, where he would reunite with Neymar and play with Angel Di Maria.

How do you think this story will go? For now we just wait for news and Messi still has a long legal battle to come, even if his mind is already made.