Lionel Messi transfer: Barcelona ‘not contemplating’ sale amid Man City interest in Argentine

The Argentine believes he can exercise a clause to leave the Nou Camp for free

Barcelona's Lionel Messi (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Barcelona are “not contemplating” selling Lionel Messi, despite the Argentine communicating to the club his desire to leave.

The motivation behind the 33-year-old’s decision after the calamitous Champions League exit to Bayern Munich stems from his belief he can exercise a clause to leave the Nou Camp for free.

But that exit stipulation is understood to have expired on 10 June, with Messi’s contract now having a €700m release clause, though the player believes Covid-19 extending the season makes the option still valid.

But Ramon Planes, the club’s technical secretary, insists they will not appease Messi and his desire to play elsewhere.

“We hope that with Trincão and the players that we can bring from now on we can build a powerful Barça that aspires to win everything,” Planes initially said before addressing the elephant in the room.

“We want to build another winning cycle alongside the best player in the world. We all continue to count on Messi.

“We are not contemplating a departure of Messi. We want Messi to stay.

“We are working internally to convince Messi to stay. Messi has not told us that he’s not going to show up for training.

“I’m convinced that all the players that we have brought, like De Jong and Lenglet, and those that we are bringing, like Trincão and Pedri, are going to give us a lot in the future.”