Jorge Messi, the father of Argentine star Lionel Messi and his agent, attacked the Spanish League (Liga), and said that it had wrongly interpreted the player's contract with Barcelona, and confirmed that his son could leave Barcelona for free.
Jorge issued a statement today, Friday, to present the player's position on his current dispute with Barcelona, as Messi is demanding to leave for free according to the terms of his contract, while the Catalan club confirms otherwise.
Messi's father said in his statement that he was not aware of any contract that the League had seen before issuing a statement in which it supported Barcelona's position, and said that the terms of the contract stipulate that Messi can leave at the end of the 2019-2020 season without paying the penalty clause, estimated at 700 million euros.
Jorge Messi's statement came after a meeting with the player's legal team, and amid reports confirming that the Argentine star backed away from the decision to leave and was close to returning to Barcelona training.
It was not clear if the new statement was a step in the direction of escalation in front of the Barcelona administration, or an attempt to clarify the player's point of view before making a final decision about his future with the team.
On Monday, the Catalan club began its training in preparation for the start of the new Spanish League season in the second half of September.