No Agreement Between Messi, Barcelona After Father’s Meeting With Club- Reports
Lionel Messi’s father and agent met Barcelona Club President Josep Maria Bartomeu on Wednesday to discuss the player’s wish to leave the club but the talks ended in a stalemate, Spanish media reported.
The meeting lasted one-and-a-half hours and was held in a cordial atmosphere, according to media reports including sports dailies Marca and Mundo Deportivo.
They said Bartomeu sees Messi as a key part of Barca’s plans to rebuild under new coach Ronald Koeman.
There was no comment from the club. Six-times world player of the year Messi, unhappy at his team’s failure to win any silverware last season and humiliated by an 8-2 Champions League thrashing by Bayern Munich, told the club last week that he wanted to leave.
The Argentine insists he has a clause in his contract that allows him to leave on a free transfer.
It is a claim disputed by Barcelona and La Liga, who say he can only leave if a rival club is willing to pay a 700 million euro (830.20 million dollars) buyout clause.
“I don’t know, I know nothing,” Messi’s father told Spanish TV channel Cuatro after flying in on a private jet.
Pressed if it would be hard for him to remain, he said “yes”, and asked how he sees Messi’s future at Barcelona, he replied “difficult, difficult”.
Messi missed a medical on Sunday and did not show up on Monday for the first training session of the season.