Messi skips Barca's pre-season medical test

BARCELONA • Lionel Messi did not attend a pre-season medical test with Barcelona yesterday, a club source confirmed, following his shock announcement last Tuesday that he wants to leave the club.

Reuters footage showed players arriving for coronavirus tests yesterday morning and the Argentinian forward did not appear.

Without passing a Covid-19 test, Messi will not be able to attend new coach Ronald Koeman's first pre-season training session today, with the start of the new La Liga season less than a fortnight away.

Messi informed Barca last Tuesday he wished to leave. His lawyers plan to invoke a clause in his four-year contract, signed in 2017, which would have allowed him to leave the club for free if he had requested it by June 10. They will argue that that date - nominally the end of the season - is irrelevant after the coronavirus delays that led to the season's extension.

Under the terms of the contract which expires next year, the only way Messi, 33, can leave without the club's consent is if another club pay his release clause of €700 million (S$1.13 billion). But, in a shocking relevation, Messi reportedly has no buyout clause that is applicable in the final year of his contract, according to Cadena SER's El Larguero radio programme. What this means is Messi believes his contract with Barca has now expired and that he is a free agent, although this situation is still up in the air.

Spanish journalist Guillem Balague described the news as a "new extraordinary twist", tweeting: "As told by El Larguero, the €700m buyout clause DOES NOT exist in last season's contract.

"Messi won't go to squad's PCR test tomorrow as going would go against his interpretation of contract - that he is free."

Barca had renewed Messi's contract for three plus one years, and the additional year was "an exceptional agreement" by which he could leave with no compensation.

However, La Liga yesterday released a statement saying Messi's contract was still valid. The ruling body said the only way for him to be released from the contract was to trigger the release clause.

Club president Josep Maria Bartomeu admitted previously that Messi had the option to leave before the start of the 2020-21 season.

"Messi has a contract... in which in the final season, before the start of the 2020-21 season, he can leave Barcelona, to quit football or to go elsewhere," he told Barca TV.

Messi has reportedly set his sights on joining Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.

Spanish pundit Cristobal Soria revealed that Messi had spoken to his former boss about how he wants to add to his six Ballon d'Or trophies.

"The call happened, and Messi said to Pep: 'I want to win the next two Ballon d'Or awards, and I can only do that with you'," Soria said.

REUTERS