Messi hands Barcelona shock transfer request

Lionel Messi has asked to leave Barcelona this summer after the club ended the season with a humiliating 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich.

There has been an unprecedented outpouring of emotion from the team’s fans, many of whom cannot believe it is possible for the Argentine international, 33, to leave. Messi sent a fax to the club on Tuesday (August 25) saying he wished to exercise a clause in his contract that allows him to leave, for free, with immediate effect.

Messi, who has won the Ballon d’Or six times and the Uefa Champions League four times, has been at the club since arriving at the age of 13.

Barca will fight tooth and nail to keep their talisman. Their understanding is that the clause has expired, meaning Messi remains contracted to the club until 2021.

In July, Spanish journalist Manu Carreño revealed that Messi had opted not to renew with Barcelona after 2021. Carreño said at the time that Messi was fed up with problems that included leaks to the media, the atmosphere in the dressing room and that he felt he was being blamed for problems at the club. This was after he had been involved in a very public clash with coach, Quigue Setien. Setien was fired after the loss to Bayern.

Messi had an option to leave Barcelona up to June 10 this year. However, he decided not to exercise that option and the understanding at the club was that the current contract, initially signed in November 2018, would continue until June 30, 2021.