RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A ‘bomb’ has exploded in Camp Nou. The Argentine television station TyC Sport reported on Tuesday that Lionel Messi had sent a document to Barcelona‘s management “via burofax” (Spanish delivery service, similar to the Brazilian telegram) containing his formal intention to leave the club.
The star, whom many consider the best player in all soccer, perhaps of all time, intends to trigger a clause in his contract that allows him to leave the club at the end of each season with no compensation whatsoever payable to the club.
The Argentine international’s discontent began to grow last week when the Catalan club was humiliatingly eliminated in the Champions League quarter-finals, a 2-8 defeat to Bayern Munich.
The feeling may have escalated with newly-appointed coach Ronald Koeman’s stated intention to dismiss Luis Suarez and Arturo Vidal, two of the players with whom Messi maintains a closer relationship.
With the ‘farewell’ to Barcelona in sight, after a 20-year-long bond, Manchester City and Inter Milan are being singled out as Lionel Messi’s most likely destinations. However, pundits are not ruling out a chance Messi might join a Major League Soccer (MLS) team in the USA, or even return to Newell’s Old Boys in Rosario, Argentina where he began his career and left to sign for Barcelona.