Barcelona (AFP)
After more than 20 years together, the divorce is resounding: Lionel Messi and FC Barcelona ended their love affair on Thursday by formalizing the departure of the six-fold Ballon d'Or, now free at 34 to find another club.
Drama, thunderclap, sledgehammer ... The information shook the specialized press which thought the extension on track: the Argentinian star will leave the club he had joined in 2000 and that he led to the firmament of European football, winning 35 trophies, including four Champions Leagues, and embodying the beautiful Barcelona game.
But it will now be necessary to get used to seeing the twirling little N.10 evolving in colors other than the Blaugrana jersey, perhaps at Manchester City where his former mentor, the Catalan coach Pep Guardiola, awaits him, or at the Paris SG, who has never hidden that he dreamed of welcoming the superstar.
"Faced with this situation, Lionel Messi will not remain linked to FC Barcelona. Both parties deeply regret that the wishes of both the player and the club cannot come true," the club continued, thanking Messi "wholeheartedly".
Symbol of the earthquake caused in Catalonia by this departure, the Barcelona president Joan Laporta is due to give a press conference on Friday at 11:00 am (09:00 GMT) to explain himself in the eyes of the "socios" (supporters-shareholders of the club).
- Shattering -
This shattering rebound concerning one of the greatest players in history risks upsetting a hitherto little lively transfer market, against the backdrop of financial difficulties linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the end of the contract since last June, Messi finds himself free to sign where he wants, an unthinkable turnaround even as the Spanish press expected the imminent conclusion of his contract extension.
It must be said that the Argentinian had expressed in the summer of 2020 his desires elsewhere.
Lionel Messi arrives at FC Barcelona training center on September 8, 2020 LLUIS GENE AFP / Archives
The decision formalized Thursday seals the end of a long soap opera initiated at the end of August 2020, when the Argentine star had signified its desire to leave Catalonia by sending the club a "burofax", a letter that remained famous which had led to the resignation of the president Josep Maria Bartomeu, in October 2020.
His successor Laporta then struggled for many months to find the financial package that would allow Barça, heavily in debt, to keep its star.
However, his serious financial difficulties seem to have got the better of the operation, despite the announcement on Wednesday of an injection of new money into Spanish clubs by the CVC investment fund.
And despite the financial effort of the small Argentine striker, ready to halve his salary and extend for five seasons, according to the Spanish press.
- Which destination ?
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The six Ballons d'Or striker, just winner of the Copa América with Argentina, nevertheless nurtured an intimate and special relationship with Barcelona, where he has lived since his adolescence and where his three sons were born.
Top scorer in club history, he had recently become the player who played the most games at Barça, ahead of the 767 appearances of legend Xavi.
"It's very special to be the captain of the team where I have played all my life," he confided in April after winning the Copa del Rey, the only trophy won last season.
Lionel Messi with the Copa del Rey after Barça's victory in the final against Athletic Bilbao in Seville on April 17, 2021 Handout RFEF / AFP / Archives
Perhaps the image of a declining Barça, having lost a foothold on the European scene since his last Champions League coronation in 2015, has definitely convinced Messi to change air to go and conquer a fifth C1 and equal his rival. forever, Cristiano Ronaldo.
It remains to know its destination.
And the clubs that can accommodate him, and his staggering salary of several tens of millions of euros per year, are not legion.
Manchester City and its wealthy Emirati owners, or Paris SG owned by the Qatari fund QSI, are among them.
"When you see him leave, it tickles you", had slipped in the fall of 2020 the Parisian sports director Leonardo on Canal +.
Parisian supporters, moreover, did not fail to notice that Messi posed this week for a photo with several PSG players, on vacation like him in Ibiza.
After the soap opera of the contract extension, here is that of the transfer of Lionel Messi!
© 2021 AFP